


Perfect Match

by grjffinsblake



Category: Are You the One? (TV), The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Feels, Drama & Romance, Drinking Games, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Friendship/Love, Humor, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Sex, Shameless Smut, Smut, Strangers to Lovers, but there is a real plot okay, especially in the beginning, there is a lot of sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-06-16 05:29:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 277,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15430011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grjffinsblake/pseuds/grjffinsblake
Summary: 22 Singles paired by experts. If your perfect match was right in front of you would you even know it? Find Love and win $1,000,000 – Are you the one.Clarke never thought she would apply to a Dating Show and neither did Bellamy. Yet, here they were, spending their time in a house full of people both didn’t know. What they didn’t expect either, was seeing each other there, again.A fic full of fun, smut, drama and pining – what do you want more?(fic on pause because i’m struggling with some health related issues, i’ll be back as soon as possible and update the rest of the fic, thanks for understanding!)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guess, now it's time to say; welcome to my first multiple chapters fic in english!  
> I'm glad you found it and I hope I won't disappoint anyone of you. 
> 
> As already said in the summary, this fic is based on the reality show 'Are you the one.' If you don't know it yet, I'll briefly tell you what you need to know, but don't worry, it'll be explained in the next chapter, anyway!  
> First of all; there are twenty-two singles in a house together, this time it takes place in Los Angeles. Each one of them has a perfect match in this house that got paired by experts. They need to figure out who's who's match, alone and as a team. 
> 
> Secondly, every week they must attend a challenge which is necessary for them, since three pairs will get a getaway date and the people who stay at the house must vote one of them into the so called 'Truth Booth' which reveals if one is a perfect match or not.
> 
> Last but not least there is a Matching Ceremony, where each person has to pick someone who might be their match. They'll get locked into the system. There are also eleven light beams that represent one perfect match. If at the end of the tenth week, the group was able to find all the matches, they win $1,000,000. If not - they'll lose the money.
> 
> That's it. I have nothing more to say. Enjoy!

After a long day at college, Clarke finally made her way home. It was Friday evening and she wasn’t planning on doing anything other than plopping herself on the couch in her living room. Bella, her Golden Retriever, was probably already laying on it, waiting for her to come back. What Clarke didn’t expect when she entered the apartment, was to find her long-time friend, Monroe, seated next to the dog.

Clarke frowned, “Monroe,” she said, “What are you doing here?”

As soon as Monroe realized that Clarke was back, she turned her head to her and smiled, “Hey there, get your ass up here so we can have a talk.”

_A talk?_ Clarke had no idea what Monroe wanted to talk about.

“Okay, just give me a minute.” With that she walked to her bedroom, changed into sweatpants and an oversized shirt as fast as she could before she returned back to the living room, sitting down next to her friend.

“So uhm… what do you want to talk about?” Clarke could see the amusement on Monroe’s face which confused her even more.

“Remember our last talk about you not being in a relationship since high school?” she questioned.

The only way for Clarke to answer her friend was to roll her eyes. Sometimes she thought Monroe wanted to set her up with someone since she hadn’t been in a relationship for at least four years. It wasn’t like she was afraid of meeting someone and dating again, but she told herself she would focus on her studies which included no dating (but casual sex was okay).

“Do we have to talk about this now” The thought of having this discussion again had her annoyed within seconds.

“Look, this time I found a way-” Clarke cut her off.

“Monroe, you know I love you and you know-”

“Clarke, let me finish my sentence!” she exclaimed.

_Good god_ , she couldn’t believe they were really going to have this conversation again.

“You have been single for long enough! Not only that, but you spend your free time doing nothing else but staying home and watching Netflix or sketching. And don’t try to tell me about your casual hook-ups, that’s not the same! I think it’s time for you to make a move again.” The friend stated.

To be honest, Monroe wasn’t wrong with that. Clarke had been spending her whole life at home. She only went out to go grocery shopping or to the gym if she was feeling motivated enough. It wasn't like there wasn’t anything to do in Manhattan, but going out didn’t fit into her schedule. Well, that’s what she was telling herself anyways. Sometimes, she _had been_ motivated enough to go out on Friday or Saturday nights, but only with the intention of getting laid. Until now, it worked, so she wasn’t really in the need of a relationship.

“That’s why we’re going to send an application in for you to this Dating Show.” She said matter-of-factly.

_Dating Show? Did she really just say Dating Show?_ Clarke raised an eyebrow at her friend, “Is this a joke? We’re not really going to do this, are we?” It didn’t seem like Monroe was joking. She just shrugged her shoulders and turned the laptop that was positioned on her lap towards Clarke.

“Listen, this show isn’t like The Bachelor okay? Basically, you answer all these questions- wait! These questions are different alright? Your answers will be sent to some experts and based on those, they’ll find your perfect match.” She finished.

Clarke really wasn’t sure if she should rather laugh or die. Her friend was serious right now. She was _fucking serious_. “And what is the difference between this show and other dating shows? That experts are finding my perfect match or what?” Nope, this was too funny for her to not start laughing.

“Ugh, Clarke, you are so hard to handle. They pick out twenty-two singles from the age eighteen to twenty-eight. Everyone answers questions and based on the responses, the experts will find your perfect match. I already told you this. This season it takes plays in Los Angeles. You will spend ten weeks at a villa with those people and must figure out who is your perfect match on your own. At the end, if everyone has correctly found their perfect match, you get $1,000,000.” Monroe explained.

_$1,000,000? A fucking million dollars?_ Damn, that definitely changed Clarke’s view on the whole dating thing. Her mother, Abby, would tell her that she didn’t need to participate since she could always put the money in her bank account for her, but that hadn’t been anything near something Clarke wanted. The relationship between her and her mother wasn’t the best. She left her mom in Miami after she found out that she concealed the fact that her father had cancer for at least two years. Her mother hadn’t told her before. She found out on her own. There was no way she could, or wanted, to stay at the same place with her mom after that. It had been the breaking point when she decided to take her life into her own hands and move to New York to finally be independent. Until now, they didn’t talk much but it had gotten a lot better than before.

Clarke wasn’t fully convinced on the Dating Show thing, but she began to consider it, “I’m not planning on saying yes yet, but I’m going to look at the questions, okay?” she reasoned.

Monroe had a satisfied look on her face, “That’s all I wanted you to do. I’m satisfied with that, but I know you’ll apply.” The girl couldn’t help the smirk that formed on her face.

# # # # # # # # # #

Bellamy had just finished cooking when Octavia came back from her shopping trip with Roma. He turned his head and looked over his shoulder before he gave both of them a small smile.

“Bell!” his younger sister spoke. Octavia made her way into the kitchen before he could even realize _how many_ bags she left next to the door. “This smells amazing! What did you cook?” she asked.

Bellamy was about to answer his sister, but Roma stopped him by making herself present, “Hey, I just wanted to say I’m leaving now. Enjoy your time. And Octavia? Tell him.” Roma gave Octavia a serious look. The girl had already made her way out of the apartment before Bellamy could even realize what she had just said. He didn’t have the chance to ask Octavia about what her friend meant before she changed the subject like always.

“Do you want me to set the table?” Octavia questioned. He knew it was better to not push her and try to make her talk about something she didn’t want him to know, so he just turned around, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed in front of his chest and nodded. It hadn’t been easy for him to accept that his sister was keeping secrets from him after everything that happened to them in the past, but he was trying.

Once the table was set, the siblings sat down and started eating in silence. They usually talked a lot during their meals, about everything that was going on in each other’s life, yet Bellamy could feel that something was wrong. Not that he was suspicious about anything in particular, but he was curious. Yeah, he was curious about what Octavia had to tell him.

Bellamy could feel his sister’s gaze on him not just once or twice, but many more times than that. At one point, he let out a sigh and looked at her, “If you need to tell me something just do it now. It can’t be worse than the things you’ve done in the past…” he trailed off.

Octavia raised an eyebrow at him before she set down her cutlery. “I’ll tell you if you promise me that you won’t freak out about it.” she bribed.

Bellamy growled, “Fine.” in return.

Octavia smiled as she put her plate to the side, so she could lean over the table, “I applied to a Dating Show two weeks ago and got picked.” the sibling could hardly contain her excitement. Bellamy couldn’t help himself and choked on his food. His sister thought it was funny and didn’t make any movement to keep him from dying.

He reached for his glass of water to take a sip. After surviving his near-death experience, he put the cup down again and glared at Octavia, “You did _what_?” Bellamy gasped.

She rolled her eyes, “I applied to a Dating Show. I even got _picked_.” she answered. He shook his head. Did she _really_ do this?

“O… _what the fuck_?! You don’t even need to participate in this bullshit. You’re not a person who wants to be watched on TV by the whole United States just to find a man? What the hell are you thinking?!” he yelled.

This wasn’t the Octavia Blake he knew. She could have _anyone_ if she wanted to. Not that he thought it was necessary for her to be in a relationship right now, but if she _really_ wanted one, there would be other ways for her to get a boyfriend. Octavia, however, thought it wasn’t such a bad idea at all.

“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about it.”  she knew this would be his reaction.

“So, what? I would’ve come home one day to see that you aren’t here? I’m glad you told me about it, but you’re not going to participate.” he declared.

He knew he was being unfair. Octavia was old enough to make decisions on her own, but really? _A Dating Show? Was she that desperate?_ Bellamy had no clue as to why his sister wanted to take part in something like this.

“Okay, what if I tell you the other reason why I applied for it?” Octavia teased.

_There were more reasons? God_. He rolled his eyes again, “Tell me then.”

“You get to win $1,000,000 if you and the other people who attend the show are able to find their perfect match.” a devious smile spread across her face.

Bellamy’s eyes widened in disbelief. _A fucking million dollars_? Well, that changed _everything_. “$1,000,000? For every person or-” he faltered.

“No. The money will be split under twenty-two people, but that’s still enough money! Bellamy, _please_. We need that money and you know that…” she said sadly.

Octavia was right. They really did need that money. It hadn’t been as urgent after they were both able to find a job that paid well, but it could be a lot better, too.

“You said something about perfect matches. What does that mean?” Bellamy had to admit, he was intrigued.

Octavia smiled at him. She knew that the fact that they could win a million dollars would change her brother’s view on the whole thing, “Basically, you answer questions and experts will find out who’s your perfect match out of all the people who got picked for the show. This time it takes place in Los Angeles. Come on, Bell! Let me go! You know I’ve always wanted to go there!” she pleaded.

_God_. This conversation was definitely going in the wrong direction for him. He hadn’t even said yes yet, but his sister made it seem like he had already agreed to let her go. No, he wasn’t going to let her be alone in Los Angeles with God knows who. The only way she was going to participate at this Dating Show was if he would be there, too.

“Alright, I’ll let you go, but… I’ll apply, too and hopefully get accepted.” he nodded, partly to his sister, and partly to himself.

Octavia’s eyes widened before she rolled her eyes. Sure, he wouldn’t let her go alone, she should’ve known better.

“Fine. Apply and add that you don’t want me to go alone. The chances will probably be higher if you tell them that you’re my overprotective, big brother.” she challenged him.

He sighed. Bellamy never enjoyed acting like this, but it was the only way to protect her from the evil in the world.

“Get the laptop and go sit on the couch while I clean up. I’m gonna apply.” With that he got up and started cleaning. He was going to apply to this show, for his sister’s sake.

# # # # # # # # # #

After a rough night, Clarke woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She groaned, turning around on her back as she looked up at the ceiling. The blonde girl turned her head around to take a peek at the clock. It was only 9 am, who the hell was calling her? In one motion Clarke sat up and took the call.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Griffin? I’m wishing you a good morning. Hopefully, we can make it even better with some good news.” a male voice said. Clarke shook her head, understanding nothing.

“Excuse me, who are you again?” she asked. The man on the other line let out a light chuckle.

“I’m part of the production team of the Dating Show that you sent an application to,” _Oh god_ , she thought. Was this really happening right now? “I’m calling to congratulate you since you’re one of twenty-two people that got picked for season 7. Now I must ask you if you’re really down for attending. If yes, we’ll send you all the information you need per e-mail. So, what do you say?” he closed.

_What did she say_? Good question. She didn’t expect this, not at all. When Clarke sent her application, she told Monroe that it was clear like the sky that she wouldn’t get picked, yet she received a call. Right now. At this moment. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Uh…,” it was easy for her to say no, she could do it, but there were too many pros for her to not participate. “Yeah, I think- no I know that I’m down. I’ll take part in the show.”

“Great! We’re looking forward to meeting you in less than a month. As already said, you’ll receive an e-mail with all the needed information.”

“Alright,” Clarke answered. She couldn’t detain the smile that crept to her face. “Thank you for picking me. I can’t wait to find my perfect match.” It was weird saying it out loud, but it was the truth. She had been serious about it and ready to find out how and especially _who_ her perfect match would be.

# # # # # # # # # #

Three and a half weeks later, Clarke found herself at the New York airport. She had already gotten rid of her baggage and was now walking through the boarding area, getting herself a coffee since she couldn’t get one before leaving her apartment. The idea of waiting until the morning to pack was a bad one. Not only because she most likely forgot stuff at home that was necessary for Los Angeles, but also because she didn’t have the time to make herself a coffee. She _needed_ coffee to survive. Clarke was glad to find a nice café at the airport before heading to the loading area of her flight.

She sat down on a seat, waiting for the plane to be ready to board, but just by looking at the monitor she noticed that she had to wait for another thirty minutes before she could get on the aircraft. _Awesome_. Clarke didn’t know what to do.

Five minutes passed, and Clarke was still sitting in her seat, looking around to see if there was _anything_ for her to occupy her time with. Obviously, there wasn’t. Since she didn’t have any other good suggestions, she took her sketchbook out of her bag and paged through the sketches she recently drew. Her sketchbook was filled with almost everything: sketches of her father, of landscapes, and beautiful places she was able to find thanks to living in New York. Clarke had a list of ideas in mind of what to draw. She smiled when something crossed her mind. Once she had decided was no way she would change her mind again, Clarke reached for a pencil and began to sketch.

Sketching was so relaxing for her that she didn’t realize _how fast_ time passed. At one point, so many people started talking around her that she had to stop and look up from the drawn lines. Only then did she notice that there was a line of people who were on their way onto the plane. _Shit_. Clarke got up as fast as she could while throwing her bag over her shoulder, before she made her way to the line. It seemed as though she really was the last person to board, since nobody came after her.

After a few minutes, it was her turn.

“Good morning. Your boarding card, please.” The woman on the counter didn’t look good at all. Sick, to put it frankly. Clarke couldn’t help it and handed her not only her flight pass, but also the rest of her coffee.

“Here you go.”

The woman looked at the coffee, then back up to her. On her face, was a genuine smile.

“Thank you. I didn’t sleep much last night. I appreciate that.”

Clarke just shook her head and smiled. “It’s alright, really. You need it more than I do.”

“Thank you… Have a good flight!” she cheered.

“Thanks.”

With that, Clarke made her way onto the plane. It didn’t hit her until she got on, but she was excited about what was waiting for her on the other side.

# # # # # # # # # #

This couldn’t be happening. Bellamy thought he and Octavia had enough time to eat without being in a rush or almost missing their flight, but here they were, running through the airport to catch their plane. Thank God the woman at the counter was nice enough to let them enter the plane only minutes before the doors should have closed.

“The next time you’re not gonna get a fucking dessert, O.”

Yeah, Bellamy was clearly pissed, and Octavia understood that, but she wasn’t the only one to blame. If he hadn’t gotten too distracted talking to a girl about ‘The Iliad’, they could’ve made it to the boarding location on time. But sure, he wasn’t going to admit that.

As if it wasn’t enough that they almost missed their flight, something else happened when they got to their seats on the plane. A girl with wavy blonde hair was sitting in one of their seats.

She was wearing a denim skirt and dammit, Bellamy was _really_ trying not to look at her bare legs, but even when he tried to look at her face, his eyes immediately stopped when he saw her black lacy bra through the white blouse she was wearing. _Fuck_. How could he be mad at _her_ when she was looking like _that_?

He was so distracted by her outer appearance that he didn’t notice Octavia talking to him until she pressed her elbow against his side.

“What?” he hissed quietly.

 She gave him a look and he knew it was his time to talk. As much as he wanted to sound annoyed at the girl seated in one of their spots, his voice didn’t seem to agree.

“Excuse me, but you’re sitting in one of our seats.”

The girl didn’t look at him immediately but after a second, she did. She raised one eyebrow at him before she looked at Octavia, then back to him. _God, why did she have to be that pretty_. Bellamy just couldn’t stay mad at her. His mind didn’t think so, and his dick didn’t agree to that either.

“I’m sorry, I assumed this would be mine.” She started putting all her things in her bag before Octavia stopped her.

“No, stay it’s fine. I prefer not sitting next to my brother anyway. Where’s the number of your seat?” she asked.

The girl shifted in her place, it seemed like she was uncomfortable. It didn’t take her long before she handed Octavia her boarding card, so she could see where her seat was. Octavia just smiled.

“Well, Clarke, have fun with my weird brother.” Bellamy couldn’t say anything before his sister took her bag and left him alone. With _Clarke_. _Great_.

# # # # # # # # # #

_Perfect_. First, Clarke didn’t have time to make herself a coffee in the morning, then she sat down in the wrong seat, and now she was sitting next to _him_. She didn’t know his name, _yet_ but _good god_ he was handsome. Like… _so_ handsome; with his curly dark hair, olive skin tone and freckles all over his face. She wanted to ask him where he was from based on his skin tone, but she was too distracted by his lips… _fuck, his lips_. Clarke couldn’t look away when he wet his index finger with his tongue so he could turn the page of the book he was reading.

Clarke _really_ wanted to stop staring at him, but he was _so gorgeous_. And it wasn’t like she could since her eyes decided to betray her, sweeping from his broad shoulders to his arms which hadn’t been covered by his tight blue shirt, down to his grey sweatpants and _Jesus Christ._ She didn’t know if he was aware of what was visual.

_Good lord_. Clarke couldn’t stop her mind from thinking of what his hands _or_ his mouth could do.

Apparently, he felt her gaze on him, because the moment she looked up again to analyse his face, their eyes met. She didn’t notice him smirking at her mischievously at first, but when she did, she didn’t know if she wanted to punch the sneer off his face, or press her lips against his.

“See something you like?” Yeah, she definitely wanted to punch it off his face, she decided.

Clarke raised a singular brow at him before returning his grin.

“Not exactly, but I’m sure you did.” She saw him sweep his eyes over her for a second before he looked back into her own. His smirk spread out even wider than it was seconds ago before he closed his book.

“I’m Bellamy by the way.” he offered.

_Bellamy_. She didn’t know where that name came from, but it somehow fit to him. Without thinking twice, she turned towards him and leaned her back against the window.

“Clarke.” Bellamy smiled lightly before he spun towards her, raking his fingers through his hair. _Fuck_ , that should be illegal for him to do.

“Well, _Clarke_ , it’s nice to meet you, even though it’s kinda weird getting to know someone on a plane.”

It wasn’t that funny, but still she found herself laughing. There was something about him that made her feel comfortable, which was shocking to her since she had a fear of flying, but he distracted her and made her forget the time.

Clarke hadn’t met anybody new in a long time, so she wasn’t sure if it would be rude to ask him about his age, but somehow it didn’t matter to her the moment she heard herself slip the question anyways.

“How old are you?” One of Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up immediately and if she had read the expression correctly, it was a little too soon to ask such a question.

“I’m twenty-four, you?” Well, or it wasn’t too soon after all.

“Oh, I’m eighteen.”

She saw him nodding slowly and it seemed like he was thinking about something. What was so special about her age that caused his contemplative stare? Okay, fair enough, twenty-four was quite older than she thought he would be, but it only meant he probably had a lot of experience… in things.

She shook her head, trying to convince herself to stop thinking about having sex with a stranger. Well, a _hot_ stranger. Since Bellamy didn’t seem to answer, Clarke asked another question.

“So, tell me, what are you doing with your life?” If she had to spend at least six hours in the airplane without much to do, she would use the time to get to know Bellamy better.

“I’m working at a natural history museum. It’s not the best job but it’s actually fun and I get paid well enough to keep my sister and me alive, so it’s good. Other than that? Not much. What about you?” he returned the question.

Bellamy wasn’t just handsome. _His voice_ … Clarke could swear she started dripping at the sound of it. So deep and raspy… She shook her head again as if the physical act would rock her back to reality. There was no need to fantasize about a guy she only knew for half an hour. Clarke finally pulled herself together before answering his question after what must have felt like an eternity for him.

“I’m studying art. My dad-”, she stopped herself from talking as she looked down at her hands. Clarke didn’t know why she had started opening up to a stranger in the first place.

“You don’t have to say any more.” Bellamy comforted.

She brought herself to look up again. Until now, she didn’t notice that he had gotten closer to her. Bellamy seemed to understand that she didn’t want to talk further about the topic. Clarke sent him a thankful smile which he returned.

After that, they began to talk about anything and everything. She told him about some of her sketches and didn’t shy away when he asked her if he could see some. For the most part, Clarke showed Bellamy her sketches of landscape, but even then, that was enough for him to compliment them all.

Along the ride, she learned that he was very interested in the Greek mythology and in the history of Ancient Rome. Clarke laughed at that but told him that it was kinda cute.

At one point, they decided to give each other some time to themselves. Bellamy returned to reading (he was wearing glasses and if Clarke wasn’t wet before she was for sure now) and she listened to music with her headphones. She didn’t know when it happened, but the last thing Clarke remembered before falling asleep was Bellamy covering her with a blanket.

# # # # # # # # # #

Clarke was surprised that she’d been able to sleep. She never fell asleep in airplanes before, but apparently, she did now. It didn’t seem like she had been sleeping for long since across from her, Bellamy was still reading his book. Clarke wanted to sit herself correctly on her seat again, but something was stopping her. Actually, it was the view of _her legs_ on _Bellamy’s lap_.

She was about to remove her legs, but then it hit her. There was a high chance of feeling a certain part of his body against her leg and she wasn’t sure if it would be a curse or a blessing. God, if they weren’t on this plane, Clarke would have already jumped him.

Clarke didn’t have the chance to think about what she should do, because Bellamy lowered her legs from his lap. He noticed that she was awake a few seconds later, sending her a light smile.

“How was your nap?” Clarke returned his smile while sitting down correctly.

“Wasn’t bad. I normally don’t sleep in airplanes but somehow, I managed to.”

Bellamy got up after she finished her sentence. _Look up, Clarke, look up_. Moments passed before she looked him in the eye, and he was smirking… again. _Fuck_. She hadn’t notice that her staring at him was this obvious.

“I’m going to the restroom.” He walked towards the said restrooms, only turning around to wink at her. Clarke watched him get in before she made up her mind. She wouldn’t let that opportunity slip away.

Clarke waited a minute, grabbed her bag, then headed to the toilets. When she got there, she noticed that both were occupied. Great, now she had to figure out in which one of them Bellamy was waiting for her. She knocked at the left one first.

“It’s occupied!” A woman’s voice. Clarke turned around and knocked at the other one. Bellamy unlocked the door. Now, there was no way back.

Without thinking twice, Clarke entered the little restroom. Bellamy was leaning against the wall across from the door, arms crossed in front of his chest. She closed the door behind her and locked it, putting her bag on the counter of the sink, never breaking eye contact with him. She bit her lower lip and Bellamy averted his eyes to the action. Bellamy’s gaze fell on her lips before they locked eyes again, licking his lips. This time, it was her turn to look at his.

Clarke didn’t notice him moving towards her until her back was against the wall and he was standing right in front of her. To keep their stare secured, she had to look up since she was shorter than him. He pressed one of his hands against the wall next to her head while the other one cupped her chin.

“What have you been fantasizing about, hm?” Clarke hiked her skirt up and took his hand off her chin before she led it between her legs. After that she let go of his, and placed her hand on his shoulder when he started pressing his thumb against her clit.

“You know, you could take off my thong.” she gasped. Bellamy looked at her incredulously, before he took his hand of the wall and wrapped one of her legs around his waist.

“Someone’s bossy, huh?” He pulled her lacy, black thong to the side before he wet his hand with his tongue, staring into her soul. The air got hotter within seconds and as much as Clarke wanted this to last, they didn’t have time for this.

“Just touch me, Bellamy.” He smirked at her then pressed his hands against her wet cunt.

“God, your dripping.” he breathed.

“Of course, I am. Stop talking- _fuck_.” He slid first one, then a second of his thick fingers inside her. _Jesus_ , the way he fucked her with them made her weak. Clarke tightened her grip on his shoulder while grinding down on his fingers. They felt so good inside her, she couldn’t remember how she got herself off prior to this. He reached spots she hadn’t been able to reach herself. _Good god_.

“More” she coaxed. When he curled his fingers inside her, Clarke let out a moan.

Bellamy leaned forward, nibbling on her earlobe before he murmured in her ear, “Shh, do you want us to get caught? Do you have a thing for semi-public sex? Is that why we are doing this right now?”

Clarke could feel that she was almost there. The combination of Bellamy’s fingers moving inside her and him murmuring in her ear made her head spin. She turned her head to him, cupping his face in her hands before she pressed her lips against his. He kissed her back and brought his thumb to her clit again, rubbing it furiously. Clarke felt herself clench around his fingers as she came, biting his lower lip to stop herself from letting out a loud moan. Bellamy kept moving his fingers slowly helping her come down from her high.

As soon as she had recovered and was sure that she was ready for her second orgasm, Clarke put her leg down onto the floor and reached for her bag. She fumbled in it before she took out a condom and threw her bag back on the counter. Afterwards, she pulled down Bellamy’s sweatpants. She didn’t want to stare at his cock, but she couldn’t look away. It was _fucking huge_.

Bellamy tucked two fingers under Clarke’s chin to angle her head back up, to meet his gaze again.

“I thought you didn’t see something you like.” he mocked.

God, he was an asshole. A hot asshole.

As an answer, Clarke took his full length in her small hand, stroking him slowly. Bellamy groaned as he threw his head forward onto her shoulder. He opened the buttons of her blouse as he sucked and licked at her collarbone, all the while cupping one of her breasts in his hand, squeezing it in a perfect way.

“God, I wanted to do that from the moment I saw you sitting in my seat.” Clarke slid her hand in his hair and pulled on it in response to him, whereupon Bellamy growled. She swiped her thumb over the head of his cock, which led to Bellamy biting her shoulder.

She needed him. Now. As deep inside her as he could get. With that, Clarke let go of his cock and directed his eyes to hers. As if he could read her thoughts, Bellamy took the condom out of her hand and put it on. He maintained eye contact before his hands came up under her to grip her thighs as he lifted her up. Clarke wrapped her legs around his waist immediately while she threw her arms around his neck. She ducked her head down, so she could pull him into another deep kiss.

Clarke didn’t know how long they had been in there, but it wasn’t like she could think clearly when Bellamy’s cock rubbed against her clit like that. She wanted, _needed_ him so badly, time and place were unimportant. When he finally thrusted inside her, Clarke could only see white. His pace was slow at first, pushing in completely then pulling almost all the way back again before pounding into her again, deep and hard.

Bellamy began fucking her faster, bottoming her out in a delicious way. Clarke threw her head back against the door, giving him access to suck on her neck. He hit _that_ spot with almost every thrust he made, making her cry out each time. Clarke had figured he wasn’t the type who moaned loudly, but the sounds he made, these low, deep groans were definitely a turn on.

She opened her eyes and turned her head to the side, looking at their reflection in the mirror. Bellamy turned his head to follow her gaze seconds later, meeting her stare.

“You like that? Watching you fall apart because I’m inside you?” Bellamy asked.

God, his voice got even deeper than it already was. Why didn’t she meet him before? Why now, when she was set to attend the Dating Show and would probably never see him again?

Clarke moaned again, before there was a knock on the door. Both of them stopped in their tracks, trying to catch their breath as quietly as possible. After the second knock on the door, Bellamy finally managed to speak.

“It’s occupied!” he called out.

Whoever wanted to get in left only moments later. Clarke didn’t realize that she was holding her breath until she relaxed again.

“You okay?” She nodded.

Bellamy placed her legs back on the floor, his dick sliding out of her. Clarke whimpered, she didn’t like the loss of it. All she wanted was him back inside of her. She wanted to complain, but there was no need for it as soon as Bellamy turned her around and shoved her lightly towards the counter. When she stood in front of it, she bended forward, holding onto the sink as she managed eye contact with Bellamy through the mirror. He spread her legs open and placed one hand on her hip as he rubbed his cock up and down her entrance before pushing inside her once again.

“Oh… fuck.” Clarke couldn’t help it and arched her back, throwing her head back into her neck as she bit her lip. He felt so good inside her, stretching her out in the most fulfilling manner. She could hear him making a sound, coming from the back of his throat and it was fucking hot. Bellamy gripped her hips as he started sinking inside her and this time, he didn’t start with a slow pace. His thrusts were long and fast and with this angle, he really did hit that one spot inside her with every beat. Clarke wanted to be quiet, she really wanted to, but she couldn’t, and Bellamy didn’t seem to mind either. They didn’t care anymore if anyone on the plane could hear them.

The restroom was filled with the sound of their bodies slapping against each other, his low groans and her cries. He fucked her exactly how she wanted, rough and quick, just straight up fucking her relentlessly. She knew it wouldn’t take her long to come again with the way he took her, and she knew Bellamy was close, too. Clarke met his pounds as she started grinding back against him.

When one of his hand came between her legs to rub her clit in unison, it was over. She clenched around him and let out a loud moan as she came. Clarke stilled her movements and laid her head on the counter as Bellamy kept fucking her. Seconds later, he followed, coming with a long, low groan. She felt his chest on her back soon after that, both of them trying to catch their breath. They stayed like this for some time before Bellamy pulled out of her and threw the condom away.

Clarke wasn’t ready to move yet. Thankfully, he seemed to understand and put her skirt back down as it had been before after he finished getting dressed himself. He wrapped his arms around her waist, helping her stand up. Clarke leaned her back against his chest and laid her head on his shoulder.

“This was-” she started but couldn’t finish the sentence. There was so much in her mind she wanted to say: that she would like to do it again, that he should give her his number, that he was _fantastic_ , but she couldn’t. As much as she wanted she just couldn’t.

“Awesome?” Bellamy said as he buttoned her blouse again.

Clarke nodded in response and closed her eyes. She could feel his lips brushing her ear and just as she thought that nothing could be hotter than his groans, he murmured into her ear, deep and raspy, “Great choice, if you keep this up we might just find ourselves here more often.”

Clarke whimpered, she hadn’t expected that at all. God, this was too much, _he_ was too much. Couldn’t she just take the next flight back to New York with him? Why would she need a Dating Show to find a boyfriend and be in a relationship if what she needed was standing right behind her? A good-looking guy, who was just as amazing at fucking her. Sadly, there was no way back.

As soon as Bellamy finished buttoning up her blouse, she turned around to him. Clarke wanted to grab him by his neck and kiss him again, but she stopped herself from doing so. Instead, she tried to fix his hair, but she guessed it would always look kind of messy.

“You want me to go first?” Bellamy said as he smiled down at her. She nodded and let go of his hair. She wanted to take a step backwards, but when she was about to do so, she realized that she was already standing against the counter.

Clarke smiled back at him, motioning him to get going. He understood her immediately and made his way to the door. “Bellamy, wait!”

He turned around again, watching before he walked back to stand in front of her. Bellamy cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her. She placed her hands on his chest and kissed him back. The kiss was different than the others they shared before, it was softer and slower, yet passionate. Clarke could kiss him like this all day long, hell, she would even kiss him like this forever if she could, but… she couldn’t.

Bellamy pulled away moments later, stepping backwards. “What if your sister asks you where we’ve been?” He looked at her as he smiled.

“Easy. We can just say something about you crying? I don’t know maybe…”

She didn’t let him finish his sentence. “About my past? Yeah, sure. I think that’s realistic and sounds… genuine.” Bellamy nodded as she returned his smile from earlier.

“Alright, I’ll go then.” It was her turn to nod at him, before he made his way to the door again.

He opened it and looked at her over his shoulder, sending her one last smile before he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Clarke let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, but _damn_. She never thought something like this would ever happen in her life. But here she was, leaning against the counter of a restroom on an airplane after the best sex in her entire life.

# # # # # # # # # #

Bellamy closed the door behind him as he tried to calm down, _again_. He still couldn’t believe that he had just sex in the restroom with a stranger. Well, she wasn’t a stranger anymore, she hadn’t been before he pushed his length inside her cunt. God, he should stop thinking about it, but it had been… fantastic. He didn’t hook up with someone in a long time and if he was being serious to himself, he was okay with that. It had led him to her, to _Clarke_.

He shook his head lightly and made his way back to their seats. He didn’t know if everything was going to be like before, them just sitting next to each other, speaking about anything that came to mind. He hadn’t any idea but apparently, it wouldn’t come to that. When he reached their seats, Octavia was planted in his.

“O, what are you doing here?” She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t make a move to leave at all. Octavia crossed her arms across her chest as she crocked her head up.

“Where have you been? And where is Clarke?” Bellamy rolled his eyes, making sure she saw how annoyed he was.

“Toilet. Clarke’s still there.” he replied.

Octavia stood up and slapped his arm. “You crazy!? Don’t tell me you just fucked her in the fucking toilet!”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “No.”

“No?!” He rolled his eyes again as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Yeah, no. She almost told me something about her past and it just… well she couldn’t keep her tears away, so we went to the restroom. I tried to calm her down. She’s fine now, but she wanted to be alone for a few minutes.”

Bellamy had no idea if he had convinced Octavia, but she was silent for a couple seconds. She sat down on his seat again and leaned against it. “Okay, but I’ll be sitting here for the last two hours. I want to get to know her, too, and I don’t want to sit alone anymore.”

He didn’t want to go, but as much as he wished to say it out loud, he didn’t. Bellamy knew his sister way too good. If he would tell her that he didn’t want to leave, she would know that _something_ happened between them, so instead he just groaned but, nevertheless, started packing his things together anyway. “Fine.” he grumbled.

Octavia grinned at him, triumphally. Bellamy took his stuff and looked at her again. “You better tell Clarke the truth about why I’m not sitting next to her anymore.”

“Will do, Bell!” With that, he made his way to Clarke’s original seat.

# # # # # # # # # #

Clarke left the restroom a little bit after Bellamy did. She still couldn’t believe what just happened in there, but on the other side, she wasn’t going to complain. She made her way back to their seats, only to find Octavia sitting in Bellamy’s place.

“Uhm, hey?” She smiled at her and motioned Clarke to sit down next to her. Since she didn’t want to stay up the whole time, she sat down in her seat again, facing Bellamy’s sister. God, this was so awkward.

“Don’t worry, I told Bell to leave. I was so lonely back there and I wanted to get to know you better.” Well… Clarke didn’t expect that. She smiled at Octavia, making sure that she understood that she was totally okay with that.

Clarke had no clue if this was a sibling’s thing, but she understood her immediately, before she faced her, too. “So, Clarke, tell me about yourself.”

Since Octavia didn’t ask her about what happened in the restroom, she figured that their lie had actually worked. Good. She didn’t want her to know, especially if she had to spend the next two hours with her. Clarke didn’t mind, so she answered mostly every question Octavia asked her. And Clarke did the same. Having conversations with the siblings were easy and even if she didn’t want to think about it, she knew she would kinda miss the two of them.

# # # # # # # # # #

Two hours and fifteen minutes later, Clarke made her way to baggage claim, after freshing herself up in the restroom of the LAX airport. She was supposed to meet the other participants there and she was glad when she found them. Nobody could miss twenty-one people who were standing together, waiting for their luggage. She tried to make out their faces as she walked towards them. Her eyes landed on one guy with shoulder length hair and even from where she was right now, she could see his well-defined facial features. Clarke didn’t realize that she was walking towards him before she stopped in her tracks. Another girl with straight, dark brown hair pulled back in a half braid, half ponytail made her way to the guy, so she figured they already communicated with each other.

When Clarke reached the group, the first thing she did was look around, checking everyone out for the first time. She couldn’t deny that each one of them was pretty good looking, or even cute in some kind of way. Clarke could feel someone’s gaze on her, but she couldn’t identify who it was, looking at everyone who was standing with her. As a result, she turned around and their eyes met immediately.

_Bellamy._

What the _fuck_ was _he_ doing here? By his facial expression, he couldn’t believe that she was here either.

After what felt like an eternity, the girl with the ponytail came in front of her, blocking her from keeping eye contact.

“You could at least be subtle about it if you’re going to be checking him out like that.” Clarke looked at her in confusement. She didn’t know why the girl cared about her looking at him. As a reaction to the look on her face, she laughed but held up her hand.

“I’m Raven.” She looked at her then replaced her confused look with a smile and shook her hand.

“I’m Clarke.”

“Well Clarke, if you want to jump him, you’ll have plenty of time to do that in the next ten weeks.” Raven winked at her before she left her alone, going to get her baggage. If she only knew, that she had already done that…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it! What are your thoughts to this chapter?  
> Next update is the following weekend, so stay tuned.
> 
> Much Love!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I said I wouldn't say much the next time I post a chapter, but there are some things I forgot to mention, so here they are.
> 
> First of all, thanks to @clarkegriffintitties for always going through the chapters after I finished writing and reading them! Go follow her on tumblr and also check out the fics she wrote herself! Another fantastic person is part of this story, our host @bellamyblakebby! Check out her tumblr, too!
> 
> Now, to the fic itself. Everyone who watched AYTO will know that I changed a couple of things in my version, as how the rooms are actually looking or the fact that I added bisexual and homosexual characters in here. Also, there are no cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms.
> 
> Last but not least, the tapes, interviews and camera room vids are three differnt things! What gets shown on TV is written in italics, just as a mention before reading.
> 
> Well, that's it. Let the game begin!

_Week 2, Day 12 – Friday. Los Angeles. 11 pm._

_"Clarke, I-" The blonde didn’t let him finish his sentence, just poured the water she had in her hand over him. Raven jumped up from the lounge and turned towards her only to shove Clarke away a bit._

_"Clarke, what the hell!?"_

_"Damn, right! What the hell is this!?" she motioned between her friend and Finn. Raven seemed to be totally lost and threw her hands up in the air._

_"Gosh, we never ended things okay!? So, now what’s your problem? Clarke, just go!"_

# # # # # # # # # #

_Week 3, Day 18 – Thursday. Los Angeles.  12 pm._

_"You should leave Clarke alone, do you understand? There’s a reason why she’s not spending time with you anymore."_

_Roan who was next to him stood up and pulled Raven away only to stand as close as possible to Lexa and tower above her._

_"And you better shut your mouth. Who are you to even talk to us like this, huh?"_

_Lexa narrowed her eyes at Roan and shoved him away._

_"I’m Clarke’s perfect match, that’s who I am. I’ll be more important to her than you’ll ever be."_

# # # # # # # # # #

_Week 3, Day 18 – Thursday. Los Angeles. 8 pm._

_Bellamy laughed, kinda devilish as he ran one hand over his face._

_‘‘Clarke… you’re going to drive me crazy.’’_

_‘‘How!? I’m not doing anything, Bellamy, all I’m-’’_

_He didn’t let her finish the sentence, just threw his hands in the air and looked at her, confusion written all over his face._

_‘‘Well, guess what? That’s the fucking point! You’re doing nothing, yet you expect us to just accept your apologies and take you back into our group!’’ Bellamy shouted, not caring if anyone would be able to hear them fighting; not caring that there was a camera in the hallway._

# # # # # # # # # #

22 Singles paired by experts – if your perfect match was right in front of you would you even know it? Find love and win $1,000,000.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 1, Day 1 – Monday. Los Angeles. 1 pm.

"What’s up guys, welcome to Los Angeles! I’m Aryana Smith and today’s the first day of the show. I’m here to guide you on this journey and, of course, I’ll help you find your perfect match because-"

"We suck at relationships!” the participants laughed.  It was ridiculous.

Clarke had an inner conflict with herself. She didn’t know if she regretted being part of this show, or if she should be excited about spending ten weeks with a bunch of people she didn’t know. To her surprise, the others didn’t seem to be idiots or annoying at all.

On their way to the mansion, the group was split into two groups. The boys were in one car, while the girls occupied the other. Until now, everyone had gotten along pretty well, and if Clarke was being honest with herself, she _did like_ being here.

She didn’t know when it had happened, but somehow she found herself a part of the smaller group of girls including: Raven (a twenty-two-year-old mechanic from Boston), Octavia (Bellamy’s sister (Clarke still hated him for not telling her that he was part of this show)) and Emori (Clarke had yet to get used to her facial tattoo). They all had a similar sense of humour and for the most part, a different taste in men which reduced the possibility of them fighting over a guy.

Right now, the four of them were standing in the first row of two on the girl’s side. The boys were standing to the left of them. The host, Aryana Smith, was situated a bit further away in middle of both sides.

"Yeah, you guys really suck at it. I saw your tapes and… really?" she shook her head. They all started laughing since they knew how terrible their past relationships had been.

**_ Tape 1 _ ** _– Wells Jaha, Boston, MA (22): Mr. Friendzone_

_"Every time I would get to know someone and entertained the thought of a potential relationship with them, I got friendzoned. Every damn time. It’s both annoying and embarrassing at the same time."_

**_ Tape 2 _ ** _– Raven Reyes, Boston, MA (22): Way too smart for men_

_"I’m too smart for boys. They know it, I know it and there was no guy who was smart enough for me. Plus, I’m hard to handle. So please, whoever is matching us all up, give me a smart guy or I’ll quit. Thank you."_

**_ Tape 3 _ ** _– Bellamy Blake, Brooklyn, NY (24): Gorgeous guy with a big heart_

_"I am – no, cut that. I was the type of guy who just fucked around. I never really had time for a relationship because I was always taking care of, and protecting my sister. I had one relationship and to be honest I ended it because she was way too good for me."_

**_ Tape 4 _ ** _– Roan Azkedama, Detroit, MI (26): The matchmaker_

_"I’m the matchmaker. I can spot couples from miles away. Meaning: I have no time to deal with my own relationships because I’m far too focused on bringing other people together. Until recently, I didn’t mind, but now it is my time to shine."_

"But you guys are here to change. We put you into a match making process. We got a lot of information about you; From your parents, from your friends and yes, also from your exes."

A girl standing on Clarke’s right side begun laughing. She turned her head to her, furrowing her eyebrows just a little. She then shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"I never had an ex and based on everyone’s facial expressions and comments being made, I guess I should be glad about that." she chimed.

Clarke understood where she was coming from. She smiled warmly at her and bumped her shoulder lightly.

"I’m Clarke, by the way." she added.

"Maya."

She returned Clarke’s grin before turning her head back to Aryana. Clarke did the same.

_ Interview _ _\- Maya Vie, Washington, DC (20): Attracted to the bad boy_

_"I don’t know why but I always fell for the bad guys and I need to stop doing that. That’s probably why I never had a relationship before and why I’m here now."_

"With all the information we received about you, our experts were able to find _your_ perfect match. So, I must ask you: If you’re perfect match was standing right in front of you, would you even know it?" she countered.

"Oh, hell nah!"

Clarke’s head immediately spun as she heard one of the guys answer the question. She wasn’t even sure if the question really was one to answer, more rhetorical than literal. Upon looking, she recognized the guy from the airport. He had dark hair and was wearing goggles. Clarke couldn’t explain why, but it was kinda cute.

"You guys have ten chances to pair up in eleven perfect matches within ten weeks. If you are able to do so, you leave Los Angeles with not only love, but one million dollars, as well!" she cheered.

Everyone started to clap and shout, understandably so. They were here for love and also money. If they had the chance to redeem both by the end of the show, they were all dead set on trying their best to find their perfect matches.

_ Interview _ _\- Octavia Blake, Brooklyn, NY (18): The little sister_

_"My brother and I, we need that money. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been surviving until now, but it was very hard for a long time and the money could help us out, especially my brother. And finding love at the same time? Come on, that’s perfect!"_

"Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat; Which of you believe in love at first sight?" she inquired.

Clarke looked around seeing several hands being thrown in the air, while her own didn’t leave her side. She didn’t think believing in love at first sight was dumb or wrong for that matter, she just thought that it was attraction that was felt and not love.

"Maya, your hand went up right away, seems like you believe in it. With looking at our handsome guys at your left, who do you think might be your perfect match?"

"I don’t know if he’s my perfect match yet, but I do like the guy in the second row with the curly hair and olive toned skin."

Every girl looked to their left, trying to find out who Maya was talking about, except Clarke. She knew who she meant by the description.

_Bellamy_.

"Wait, wait, wait," Octavia raised her hand, and everyone stopped making comments, turning around to look at her. "Maya, that’s my brother. If you hurt him, I cannot promise that I will continue liking you and Bellamy. If you fuck it up, I’m gonna slap the shit out of you. Thanks for listening." she concluded.

Aryana laughed, clapping her hands at the same time. Clarke shouldn’t be laughing at the whole situation, she knew that Octavia was being serious, but it was _hilarious_. Octavia was being protective of her older brother, but she wouldn’t mind speaking up against him if he was acting like a fool. Impressive.

"Well, I guess since you guys have Octavia’s permission now, nothing can stop you from getting to know each other. Jasper, I saw your hand go up almost immediately after Maya’s, who do you believe is your perfect match?" So, Jasper was the guy with the goggles. Yeah, _cute_ , Clarke thought.

_ Interview _ _\- Jasper Jordan, Cleveland, OH (22): His goggles are his trademark_

_"If I like someone, like really like someone, I’m never making the first move because I’m afraid of rejection. It has happened to me before. Every girl is looking for a bad guy, and I’m the cute one for all."_

"I think I just fell in love with Bellamy’s sister and I can’t help it, sorry man." he admitted.

Clarke could see Bellamy shrug his shoulders and pat Jasper’s. When she noticed Raven looking at her with a quizzical expression, she shot her a questioning look. Raven just chuckled and returned her gaze back to Aryana. Clarke had no idea why Raven was laughing.

"Raven, you look like you have something to laugh about, but let’s get serious. Who do you think would pair well with you?" her tone deepened.

Everyone knew who she was going to pick, since they had all seen Raven interact with Finn at the airport while waiting for their baggage. It was no surprise when she called out his name.

"We are already hearing the bells ringing!"

Clarke recognized the other voice from the airport, too. It was Murphy. She had a brief conversation with him earlier about him wearing SpongeBob shorts. He was still wearing them now and even though she would never wear something like that around a bunch of new people she didn’t know, she was impressed by how open he was around them all.

_ Interview _ _\- John Murphy, Atlanta, GA (23): A good humour hurts nobody_

_"A lot of people would say I’m hilarious. I would say so, too, but there are people who don’t understand my humour and that’s why I haven’t had a lot of relationships. Oh, and I have no problem with being myself around new people. I guess that’s good for this game, isn’t it?"_

"Alright, so we have three pairs now, right? Why don’t we just go ahead and put this thing to test?" Aryana exclaimed.

Clarke looked at Raven, wiggling her brows.

"I think you’re going on a date with Finn."

Raven’s eyes widened in shock, whereupon Clarke started laughing. She didn’t think Raven would be opposed to the idea of going on a date with him, but apparently, she was shocked.

Raven took her hand in support as she got closer to her. "Clarke don’t tell me that this is happening right now."

There was no way Clarke could hide her smile. Raven behaved as though she was about to go on a date with a prince; It was comical to see her like this. Clarke simply squeezed her hand in reassurance and nodded to Aryana. Raven turned her attention back to the host.

"Maya, Jasper, Raven, cross on over to the person you choose."

Clarke watched Raven leave her side with a smile. She couldn’t deny the fact that she would not be happy for her if Finn should be Raven’s match. After all, Clarke had wanted to get to know him better when she first saw him. He seemed nice enough, but she wouldn’t fight with Raven for him. There was a high possibility that he wasn’t even her perfect match, so everything was fine.

As soon as the three of them walked over beside the person they had chosen, Aryana spoke again.

"This season, we’re going to start things differently. One of these couples is going to be the first one that gets voted into the truth booth by you. The truth booth is the only way you’re going to find out which couple is a perfect match." she explained.

Clarke should have known better, and it seemed like the others weren’t happy about it either. They had just picked a random person they found attractive without even thinking if it was the right choice. This couldn’t end good for the team. Aryana, however, found it was quite funny.

"You guys don’t look happy at all but let me change that. If you confirm one of these “love at first sight” couples, your prize will go up by five hundred thousand dollars!"

Aryana had truly believed the new information would make things better, but everyone groaned instead, asking themselves why they had chosen couples without much strategy. The fact that they could earn even more money with a confirmed perfect match only made matters worse. Clarke knew there was no way they were going to earn the added money.

"While the three couples are going on their getaway date, you guys have to choose which one of them goes into the truth booth. Choose wisely. The getaway date will be on Wednesday. Until then, you guys are free to do whatever the hell you want, but make sure you start making connections. Now get back inside; We’ll see you all on Wednesday!" Aryana closed.

Everyone clapped one last time before they made their way back to the villa. That’s when the game really started.

# # # # # # # # # #

1.30 pm.

The whole group agreed to start it off easy. Everyone was either hungry or tired, so they decided to make food while getting to know each other. Since Bellamy turned out to have the most knowledge of cooking, he was the one preparing the meal. The rest of the group was occupied sitting in the living room or on the bar stools, keeping him company; That included Murphy, Roan, Miller, Zeke, Raven, Octavia, Emori and Clarke.

_ Interview _ _\- Nathan Miller, Chicago, IL (23): Most loyal person on earth_

_"My last relationship ended because of me being “too” loyal to my childhood best friend. My boyfriend never liked him in the first place and I didn’t want to put him above my best friend. He didn’t accept that, and left me. Worst thing about the whole situation is that in the process, I lost my best friend too."_

_ Interview _ _\- Emori Florell, New Orleans, LA (21): Afraid of relationships_

_"I’ve never been in a relationship. My dad used to hurt my mother so frequently that I’ve always been afraid of being with someone. I don’t know if something like what happened to her will happen to me. But I guess I shouldn’t believe that every guy is like my father. So that’s why I am here."_

_ Interview _ _\- Zeke Shaw, Atlanta, GA (24): The church boy_

_"My mum used to go to church with me every Sunday. When she died in the early years of my life, I refused to enter a church ever again, thinking it wasn’t fair that my mum had died. But I figured that wasn’t right on my part. Something was always missing. So, I decided to go to church again, every Sunday. My girlfriend doesn’t have to be religious, but she should respect that it is a big part of me."_

_ Interview _ _\- Clarke Griffin, Manhattan, NY (18): Artist by heart_

_"I love drawing with all of my heart. My father inspired me with doing so too. That’s how my love for sketching began. It’s not only something I do for fun, but also for relaxing and taking a break from the world. It is, and always will be a part of me."_

When it seemed like everyone’s attention had turned elsewhere, Clarke got up from her bar stool and went to stand next to Bellamy, leaning her hip against the counter. She settled close enough to his side so that the others wouldn’t be able to listen in on their conversation. Being this close to him hadn’t been the greatest idea, Clarke quickly realized. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just some shorts and he smelled _so good_ , she never wanted to stop breathing in his scent. Clarke had really tried to keep her eyes up on his face. She didn’t want to risk anyone noticing that she was checking him out since she had not gotten the opportunity to see his toned abs while they were having sex in the plane’s bathroom.

Clarke shook her head lightly, focusing on Bellamy’s face instead, which proved to not be best idea, either. She was in such close proximity to him that she was able to count the individual freckles splattered over his cheeks and nose. She hadn’t focused on his jawline before, but she was sure it was sharp enough to cut diamonds. He was _gorgeous_ and the way he could roll his hips into her didn’t make it any better.

As time passed, Clarke was frozen in her place, doing nothing. She remained beside him, letting her thoughts take control of her mind until Bellamy turned his head around to look down at her, and again he had that fucking smirk on his face, _fuck_.

"Huh, ready for round two already? Can’t get enough of me?"

Fucking asshole. _Hot_ fucking asshole. Clarke hit his arm lightly. She briefly checked if anyone was paying attention to them (thank God no one was) before she glanced at him again.

"We’re not going to tell anyone what happened on the plane, got it? It won’t affect this game in any way and it shouldn’t happen again." she chided.

Right, it shouldn’t but that didn’t mean that she was _okay_ with not doing it again. She wanted to jump him a second time. If she could, she would do it right here, right now, but it would be unfair to the others, so they had no choice.

Bellamy mixed the spaghetti with the carbonara sauce casually. For a moment, Clarke thought he was going to say that they could continue hooking up without telling anyone, trying to convince her that it was fine, but he didn’t.

"Relax. This was a one-time thing. I’m here for the same reason you are. It won’t happen again, that’s the best for everyone."

_This was a one-time thing_. Good. That was… good.

Clarke nodded at him and he did the same, winking at her before he turned his focus back to cooking. She rolled her eyes and took a step backwards, turning around to face the others. Until then, she hadn’t noticed Roan was watching Bellamy and her with a crooked smirk on his face.

"What?" Clarke directed at him.

Roan just shrugged his shoulders and sipped his water. From now on, Clarke was determined to act as though nothing happened between Bellamy and herself.

# # # # # # # # # #

2 pm.

The food was delicious and it seemed like everyone agreed to let Bellamy be the man of the kitchen. Nobody questioned that he was a good cook, and nobody wanted to be responsible for making the food either. Sadly, that was the only thing everyone could agree on. There were so many things they had to sort out in order to win the game, yet the whole group talked without listening to what others suggested, until Monty hit the table with his fist.

"Can you guys shut up for a moment?!" he cried out.

Even though Monty didn’t look like someone who would raise his voice against other people, it helped, bringing everyone to a tense silence.

"We have to come up with rules and decide who’s responsible for what in here. Plus, we should talk about some strategies for the whole game in general if we want to actually win it."

_ Interview _ _\- Monty Green, Cleveland, OH (22): Smart, uses his intellect to help others_

_"I’m all in for strategy. Sure, this game is about finding love and our perfect match, but if we’re only going to follow our hearts, we won’t be able to win this game. We’re here because we always pick the wrong people if we follow our heart, so we must use our brains, too."_

Clarke knew he was right and to be honest, the rest of the crowd should have acknowledged his point too. Without any rules, it would be hard for them to live together in harmony for ten weeks. Some level of planning wouldn’t hurt either since they had already fucked up with their first truth booth. Before anyone could speak against Monty, Clarke sent him a smile while rising from her chair.

"Monty’s right. We don’t know each other that well yet and it could cause some problems in this house, so we should try and make sure we get along. If we don’t, this won’t end up good for the whole team. Other than that, we have to decide who shares which room, and make sure that everyone has a task in this house."

"I agree," Bellamy put his silverware down, before he stood up himself, "I guess every single one of us has watched other seasons before, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. There has been a lot of drama and people didn’t get along very well in the past. It happens, yeah, but we can do better than that. I’m not saying that we all should be best friends from now on, but we should try our best to make this journey pleasant for everyone. If it means we must stick to rules and have some responsibilities in here, I’m fine with that. Does anyone have something against that?" he asked.

It was silent for several seconds and nobody said a word. For a moment, Clarke thought everyone was on the same page, but obviously that wasn’t true. A girl with brown hair and silver highlights started laughing, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What? Are you against it?" she said.

The girl was clearly amused. "I’m just asking myself who said that the three of you are in charge."

From that moment on, Clarke didn’t like her. It wasn’t about being in charge, and it seemed like the girl didn’t understand that it was about more than that. No, Clarke didn’t like her because she tried to start drama and it had only been the first day of the show.

Clarke just rolled her eyes, ignoring her comment and swung around to face the others.

"I hope everyone else understands that this has nothing to do with being in charge here. We just want this to work out, not only for us, but also for you." She could hear the girl snort behind her. Clarke really didn’t want to say anything again and thank God she didn’t have to, since Bellamy turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, if you aren’t okay with what we’re saying, suggest something yourself. And as a side note, you seem to be the only one who has something against it." Bellamy reasoned.

"That’s because everyone else is too shy to stand up for themselves, telling you guys to fuck off." the girl stated boldly.

Clarke sent her a questioning look. She wanted to speak up and say something so badly, telling her to fuck off herself, but again, someone beat her to it. This time it was Raven.

"Listen, I’m pretty sure we can all talk for ourselves. Other than that, why would we agree with _you_. I don’t think any of us even know your name. Why did you sign up for this show if you cut yourself off anyway? It doesn’t help us at all and I’m not going to lose a million dollar only because you suck at building new relationships. Seems like you’re the only one who isn’t grown enough for that." Raven spits out.

She started laughing. Clarke didn’t know what made her laugh, but she found it disrespectful. Not only to her, but the others as well. They were trying to play this game correctly and without everyone being in, they would fail. No love, no money.

"First of all, my name is Echo and secondly, I don’t know why you guys are mad now. I just said how things are." she sneered.

Next to Raven, Emori let out a snicker. It was clear that everyone shared the same opinion as Clarke, Bellamy and Monty. This wasn’t a competition between the whole group, but Echo didn’t seem to understand that.

_ Interview _ _\- Echo Icke, Detroit, MI (23): Here to find love not a family_

_"I don’t like people telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. That’s my thing to decide. People should mind their own business and that’s why I think what the others are planning is bullshit."_

Clarke looked at Monty, motioning him to say something. She heard him sigh but he held up his hand anyway, turning everyone’s attention back to him.

"Fighting about this now is unnecessary. We have to talk about the room constellation. It’s even harder since we don’t know each other that well yet, but we need to figure it out." Monty waited for someone to say something, but when he figured that everyone was okay with it, he continued talking about the room configuration.

"So, Jasper and I went upstairs earlier and there are four bedrooms with three king size beds in it. Since we are twenty-two people, we will have two rooms with five people, and two rooms with six people." he calculated.

The group had no problem with the sleeping arrangement. The only question that Clarke had in mind was if they had to share a space with the same gender or not. As if Sasha could read her mind, she asked the question out loud.

"I think it makes little to no sense sleeping in a bed with the other gender, immediately. Plus, I won’t be able to open up to guys that quickly anyway, so I think it’s better if we share the rooms with the same gender."

Sasha was right. It was the best way for everyone in the first week. If they wanted to change it, they could do it sooner or later, but for now, it seemed like everyone agreed with Sasha.

_ Interview _ _\- Sasha Walgrove, St. Louis, MI (20): Considers herself a shy person_

_"I don’t have a problem with guys in general, but I’m a shy person, so for me, it only makes sense to share a room with girls rather than having to share a bed with a random guy I only know for a few hours."_

After half an hour filled with tons of discussions about who shares which room with whom, they were finally done. On the second floor, the girls occupied the right side while the boys had taken over the left one.

One room had been taken by Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Emori, Harper and Maya. Across from them Luna, Sasha, Lexa, Costia and Echo occupied the other. The bedrooms were big enough for all of them, but they still shared one makeup room and one closet.

The left side of the second floor was the boy’s side. The first room on the left had been set up with Bellamy, Miller, Murphy, Zeke and Roan. Across from them were Monty, Jasper, Lincoln, Wells, Finn and Jackson. Like the girls, they all shared one closet and since they didn’t wear makeup, there was a separate room filled with training equipment.

There were four rooms in the middle of the hallway that split the girl’s and the boy’s side. One bathroom for the guys and the other for the girls. The bathrooms were arranged across from each other. Another room was the so called ‘Boom-Boom Room’ (even though all of them watched the show before, none of them quite understood why there was _one_ room where _all of them_ could have sex) with a balcony. The last room was to be used for ranting, sending a message to the viewers or for some alone time.

At the end of the day, everyone was happy about the room constellation and how things turned out.

# # # # # # # # # #

6 pm.

Clarke didn’t know why, but somehow, she ended up laying in bed with Raven. Octavia and Emori were seated on the bed with them and they talked about everything under the sun. Octavia was painting her toenails while Emori was braiding Raven’s hair. Clarke laid there, staring at the ceiling in peace. She had a feeling that they would all become really good friends and stay close even after the show would come to an end.

She hadn’t been listening to the conversation for some time now, but when she heard Octavia talking about Bellamy she sat up almost immediately. Only then did she realize how conspicuous it was for her to react this way only by hearing Octavia say her brother’s name aloud and apparently, she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

"Okay, first, you and Bellamy lock eyes at the airport for like what? Two minutes? Then, you stared at him when we were with Aryana, and now you react this way only by hearing his name, do you guys know each other?" Raven asked.

She knew Raven had been suspicious after the first meeting with their host in the afternoon. Still, it was awkward knowing that Raven had thoughts in her mind she never wanted to know about.

The blonde shook her head. "No, we don’t know each other it’s-"

"Oh, they _do_ know each other" Octavia cut her off.

Clarke started to panic on the inside. She was convinced that Bellamy hadn’t told his sister what happened between them on the plane, but there was no way of knowing a hundred percent. She hoped he didn’t because first, it was embarrassing knowing that Octavia _knew_ and secondly, it _was_ _embarrassing_.

"Actually, Clarke and Bellamy sat next to each other for like four hours straight on the airplane." Octavia explained.

If she only knew they didn’t spend all of that time heating the seats.

Raven raised one eyebrow while Emori snapped her head towards Clarke. It was her time to speak.

"You mean to tell me that you guys sat next to each other? How didn’t you jump his bones, Clarke? He is hot, and I’m sure he had some scenarios running through his mind of his head between your-"

"Ugh, Emori please. I don’t want to hear about stuff like that when it’s about my brother." Octavia whined.

Clarke couldn’t help it and let out a snort. Raven and Emori shook with laughter when they noticed how Octavia tried to look as disgusted as possible, but failed and laughed along with them. Clarke shook her head and smiled to herself, pushing away what Emori was trying to say and thinking about how easy it was going to be with these girls beside her. Yeah, she thanked Monroe for dragging her into applying to this show.

# # # # # # # # # #

Bellamy had no idea how he had gotten into this conversation with Miller in the living room. To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. They all needed to get to know each other and even though they were here for love, they could still build friendships. He learned that Miller was twenty-three years old, more of a relationship guy, and gay. Bellamy didn’t have a problem with it in the least and made sure Miller understood that. He told him that he got a lot of hate in his younger age, since he was black _and_ gay, but Bellamy just looked at him with sympathy, telling him that there is nothing wrong with him. He didn’t understand this society at all, some people could only be defined as dumb and close-minded.

Miller asked him questions about himself, too: what he does for living, how old he is and obviously about the relationship Bellamy had with Octavia. He didn’t tell him much except for general facts; that his dad died when he was three years old; that Octavia’s father was still alive but never showed up and didn’t help with child support; and that his mother died when he was eighteen and Octavia, thirteen. Miller didn’t pry further, just expressed to him that it seemed like he did great with Octavia and that he’s impressed that he came here for her. After that, they didn’t talk much, both of them busy doing other stuff (Bellamy was reading again while Miller talked to Murphy).

Some time passed before Miller spoke to him again, "So, what do you think of Maya?"

Bellamy looked at Miller, trying to figure out what his intentions had been, but he couldn’t see his facial expression clearly. All he could see was the back of Miller’s head, turned to the other side of the couch, not giving him any attention. Bellamy followed his gaze, landing on Jackson, who was sitting next to Lincoln.

"What do _you_ think of Jackson." He couldn’t help it but smirked at Miller as soon as he turned his head to him. Now he got his attention.

Miller just shrugged his shoulders, "He’s cute. Kinda reserved, but I don’t know if he likes men, so."

He saw Miller turning away again, Bellamy thinking he forgot about the question he had asked him previously, but he was wrong. Seconds later, Miller turned back to Bellamy crooking his chin at him.

"So? You like her?" he asked again.

Bellamy started laughing lightly. "Well, I’m not going to complain. We talked earlier for like twenty minutes. She’s cute though, but probably way too good for me."

It was true. Maya was nice, and she seemed to be intelligent, too. Other than that, she was beautiful and _nice_. That was the problem. The only relationship he had in the past was with a decent, nice girl, and because of him, she had to go through so much. Some people didn’t understand why he broke up with her, but he was way too fucked up for a relationship with girls like her. They deserved better than _him_. They deserved having a carefree life without having to handle a guy with a fucked-up past.

Before Miller could answer, Roan came out of nowhere, calling his name.

"Bellamy, you want to join me, sending the first message to the viewers?"

Bellamy looked at Roan first before looking to Miller. He didn’t want to just cut off the conversation and leave, but Miller just smiled at him and motioned for him to go with Roan. Bellamy patted Miller’s shoulder, before getting up and following Roan into the camera room.

"May I ask you why you picked me?" Bellamy was curious.

Roan just shrugged, opening the door to the room.

"I just think we could get along very well." He grinned at him.

Bellamy shook his head before he entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"I guess you have an idea of how this is gonna work?" he figured.

Again, Roan grinned at him, motioning him to sit down while he turned on the camera. Bellamy sat down on the couch across from the camera. He placed his arm on the armrests, waiting for Roan. Seconds later, he sat down next to him.

_ Camera Room _ _\- Bellamy and Roan_

"What do you say? About your first day here, I mean." Roan explained.

Bellamy didn’t know if he was supposed to look into the camera, or look at Roan while answering the question. He instead shrugged his shoulders at the camera before redirecting his line of sight to the guy next to him.

"It’s not bad at all." Bellamy waited a moment and Roan raised his eyebrow.

He just shook his head and turned to the camera instead. " _I came here to protect my sister, but I think it’s even a great opportunity for myself so… I just hope we all get along well._ "

Roan seemed to agree with him and nodded. " _I agree on that. The drama today was so unnecessary, but something else makes me forget about that easily_."

Bellamy looked at him in confusion. He couldn’t figure out what Roan was talking about. The amusement on his face didn’t make it any better.

" _What are you even talking about_?" Bellamy spoke.

Roan wiggled his eyebrows while grinning like a five-year-old who had just gotten a place in his favourite football club in the city. " _Don’t act like a fool, Bellamy, I see everything that’s happening between two people._ " Between two people?

Bellamy really wanted to know what was going on, why Roan brought him into this room, but he had no idea. He didn’t know if Roan was attracted to him and wanted to make out, but that wouldn’t explain why he turned on the camera. No, Bellamy had no clue what Roan was talking about.

" _Never said you wouldn’t?_ " he responded.

Roan threw his head back while laughing. Bellamy swept his eyes around the room in confusement, looking anywhere, but at Roan. He wasn’t intimidated by him, not at all, he just didn’t understand him. It wasn’t like he was dumb, but he knew he could do better than not knowing what another person was talking about. Before he could say anything, Roan looked at him seriously and said what he was thinking out loud.

" _I would be lying if I said I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but Clarke was ready to jump you in the kitchen and we both know it’s gonna happen soon… If it didn’t happen already_." he replied.

His grin grew wider and wider with every second that Bellamy remained silent. This was one of the few moments he didn’t know what to say, _at all_. Had they been this obvious? He got up without saying a word, turning off the camera before he sat down again. When he turned to look at Roan again, he saw him raising an eyebrow. _Fuck_. Bellamy knew there was no way back.

"What exactly do you want from me right now? I don’t know why this is important to _you_." Bellamy heard him let out a cackle. He didn’t understand what the problem had been. So what if she wanted to jump him? They were here for finding their perfect match after all and anyone could be that person.

Roan shrugged his shoulder. "I’m not jealous or anything, I’m just saying and I’m not stupid. I can see if there’s something between people. I told you already, they don’t call me the matchmaker for no reason. If you guys had sex, fine, but you should-" he got cut off when Jasper opened the door.

"Oh sorry, Monty and I wanted to send a message." Bellamy got up almost immediately.

"It’s fine, we’re done." He glanced at Roan one last time, making sure that he understood that he had to shut up about it. When he nodded, he left the room without looking back. Now one of twenty people knew that something happened between Clarke and him. _Fan-fucking-tastic._

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 1, Day 2 – Tuesday. Los Angeles. 8 am.

Clarke was the first one to wake up of the girls she shared the room with. Nothing was planned for the day, but last night she decided she would take her shower earlier in the morning so she could attempt to make breakfast for the others.

She went to the closet as quiet as possible, taking her toiletries, some underwear, clothes and two towels with her. Soon after that, she left the room, closing the door behind her. She smiled lightly, looking forward to standing under the shower, letting the hot water run over her body.

When she reached the bathroom, she entered it without hesitation since nobody would be awake this early when they hadn’t made plans for the day and to be honest, who wakes up this early on a kind of vacation? She put her toiletries on the counter of the sink, before taking out her toothbrush and paste, starting to brush her teeth. Meanwhile, she thought about everything. Her mother was probably as excited as Monroe, since Clarke was finally about to date again. Well, that’s what they hoped for at least, but she wasn’t sure if she could find love in this house. Sure, everyone had a perfect match but that didn’t mean that they would really get together in the end.

Thinking of all the boys in this house, Clarke started to figure out who might be her perfect match. First things first, every one of them was handsome or in some way cute, that was for sure, but she couldn’t imagine being in a serious relationship with any of them. Yeah, she had been thinking about approaching Finn, but he was out of the game, for the sake of Raven’s interest in him. Both Monty and Jasper weren’t her type, so they probably wouldn’t be her match either. Zeke was cute, but in another way than Jasper. She hadn’t had a conversation with him yet, but that could change quickly. A girl, she didn’t know her name yet, with full lips and brown hair caught her eye yesterday when they ate dinner, but the girl was already flirting with another person. She had no idea who could be her perfect match and the fact that she didn’t talk to any of the guys other than Bellamy didn’t make it easier on her.

Clarke rinsed her mouth as soon as she finished brushing her teeth, looking at the counter. Only then, she noticed, that for some reason it was too quiet in the bathroom. It wasn’t as though she had been paying attention to the sounds in the background, but just now, when they were completely gone, she realized that they had been there, and now… well now they weren’t. Just when she was about to turn around, she heard _his_ voice.

"Can I help you?"

Clarke looked up, straight into the mirror and that was her mistake. Bellamy was standing in front of the shower, turned towards her, naked and still wet. _Fuck_ , he was _hot_. She decided to look at his face rather than analysing his body, but all she could find there was a smirk. She wanted to roll her eyes, but she instead bit her lip while they locked eyes through the mirror.

"What are you doing here." It wasn’t a real question, more a statement than anything. Even if she didn’t want it to sound like that, she couldn’t do anything about it. She was too distracted by how good Bellamy looked. _Good God_.

She saw him sauntering closer until he was standing right behind her. Clarke could swear that her pjs would be wet now (not only because he was wet and pressed against her back). He pulled the straps of her top down, before leaning down and kissing her shoulder blade, never breaking eye contact. She leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling his dick press against her ass. They shouldn’t be doing this, but it was too good to stop now, and it wasn’t like anybody else was awake anyway.

"Well," That’s all Bellamy said before he turned her around and lifted her onto the counter, standing between her legs.

"I guess you thought this was the girl’s bathroom, hm?" Even though Clarke wanted to answer, she couldn’t, not with him looking like _this_ , standing between her legs. _Fuck it_. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she cupped his face in her hands, pressing her lips against his. The kiss was sloppy but fucking amazing. Clarke would kiss him every second if she could, but because of this dumb game she agreed to, she couldn’t. Right, she couldn’t but that didn’t mean she would actually follow the rules. _God_ , Bellamy would be the death of her.

The man pulled away for a second, which was already too long for Clarke. She whimpered, whereupon, Bellamy smirked. He took off her top and threw it to the floor before he kissed her again, in the same way as before. Clarke couldn’t complain, not now, not later, probably never. 

She reached down between them and wrapped her delicate hand around his long length, moving it up and down in a quick pace. Bellamy groaned against her lips as he slid one hand into her panties, rubbing furiously against her clit while he played with her nipple in his other hand. Clarke couldn’t help but quiver when he started doing so. It was too hot, everything was going so fast and it felt fucking amazing. But even if it did, Bellamy treated her well enough in the restroom of the flight. This time shouldn’t be about her again. It was her turn to return the favour.

Clarke pulled her face away and wrapped her hand around his wrist. He stopped everything he was doing and lifted his face to her, frowning.

"What’s up?" he breathed.

She let her eyes drift to his thick cock that was still in her hand, before she looked up to him again.

"I want to suck your dick." she said firmly.

"Dios mío, Clarke." he pleaded.

_Fuck_. Bellamy didn’t tell her that he could speak Spanish, and if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t expect it at all, but _Jesus_ this was _hot_ , it made her walls clench down around nothing. She hopped off the counter, kneeling in front of him as she took his shaft in her palm yet again. Clarke couldn’t wait to take him in her mouth, but before she did that, she licked her way up from the base to the tip of his cock. She let her tongue lick around the tip playfully while she pumped the rest of him.

He felt hard and heavy in her grip and she couldn’t resist him any longer. Clarke wrapped her mouth around his dick, sucking his tip slowly, bobbing her head up and down. Bellamy was indeed huge, but she wasn’t going to protest. He filled her mouth perfectly and he tasted so good. There was nothing else she wanted right now. Thank God she had slept with a messy bun that night, so that right now her hair wasn’t disturbing her from giving Bellamy head, she thought to herself. The disgruntled man above her let out a low growl when Clarke took more and more of his length in her mouth. She looked up at him, finding him already peering down at her. She sent him the most innocent look she could as she flattened her tongue against his tip.

"Come on, Clarke, come on." Bellamy whined.

_Impatient_ , she thought, but since she wanted him as bad as he wanted her, she increased her pace. She saw Bellamy throw his head back as he groaned. God, all of this was such a turn on, Clarke _had_ to touch herself, so she did, trying to mimic the movements Bellamy had used on her clit before. She couldn’t compete with him, but it was enough to get herself off.

The next thing Clarke felt was his dick bumping against her soft palette. She tried not to choke on it and thank God she didn’t. She rose higher on her knees, trying to change her angle as she looked back up to him, their eyes sealed together.

"You want me to fuck your mouth, Clarke? Do you want me to do that?" he moaned breathlessly.

She nodded and hummed around his cock, still bobbing her head slowly, but never breaking eye contact.

"Stay still, huh?" Clarke nodded again, stilling her movements and placing her hands on his thighs. She for sure would need him for leverage if he was going to fuck her mouth good.

Bellamy placed his hands on the counter before he started thrusting into her mouth till his cock hit the back of her throat. Clarke opened her mouth as wide as she could, grabbing his hips with her hands to keep herself steady. After multiple thrusts, she decided to switch up the game. She slid her mouth lower and lower until she deepthroated him. The low guttural groan he let out only gave her the motivation to do it again, but first she pulled her head back, so his dick left her mouth with a _pop_. It was covered with her saliva and she couldn’t help but started stroking him fast before wrapping her mouth around him again. Clarke took every inch of his dick in a slow pace, going all the way down until the head of his cock hit the back of her throat yet again.

" _Jesus Christ_ , vas a ser mi muerte, Clarke." he gasped.

Bellamy pulled her up, pressing her against his body as he kissed her sloppily. Clarke could swear her panties were soaking wet and all she wanted was his dick inside her, so she pulled away. He seemed to understand and took a step back, stroking himself while Clarke started to take off her shorts. She almost had them off when she froze and started to blush. Bellamy frowned, took his hand away from his length and looked at her in confusion. That’s when he followed her gaze and saw Roan leaning against the doorframe, a smirk plastered over his face.

Clarke didn’t know if she wanted to die or not. Right, she wanted to. She had no idea how long he had been standing there, but that wasn’t even her biggest problem. Without thinking twice, she pulled her shorts back on and grabbed her top from the floor, holding it against her to cover her breasts.

"What the hell are you doing here, Roan?!" She put on her top quickly before glancing at Bellamy who put on his boxer briefs just in the same moment.

Roan just shrugged his shoulders, grin never leaving his face.

"Wanted to take a shower, but I didn’t want to disturb you guys either." He wiggled his brows.

He couldn’t be serious. Did he really just watch… no, Clarke didn’t even want to think about that. She turned to Bellamy, sending him an apologizing look before taking all of her stuff and leaving the bathroom. She could hear him asking Roan what the fuck his problem was but right now she didn’t even want to know, she just wanted to bury herself under her blanket and never face Roan again. She wasn’t ashamed of what she did, hell no she wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean that someone was allowed to watch her while giving someone head.

Clarke leaned against the wall next to the girl’s room and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe what had just happened… She had no clue if she should be embarrassed or mad at Roan. All she knew was that whatever was going on between Bellamy and her had to stop, and this time, there was no room for excuses. _  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go, chapter three! this time a day before i usually would update, but the finale is tomorrow and i guess we all will be focused on that one. who's to blame for doing so? nobody.
> 
> enjoy this chapter, quite different from the first two!

Week 1, Day 3 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 2 pm.

Bellamy looked at his reflection in the mirror. Today he would be going on his date with Maya and Octavia insisted on choosing what he would wear. He had to admit, she chose something that he liked himself, even though it was basic; just a white shirt with khaki cargo pants and matching white sneakers. He ruffled his hair one time again, making sure that it looked good but natural, before he left the closet. Afterwards, Bellamy made his way back to the bedroom, only to find Zeke sitting on the bed he shared with Miller.

"What’s up?" He hadn’t made any conversation with Zeke yet, so he was rather surprised that he found him situated on the mattress.

It didn’t seem as though the unsuspecting guest felt it to be weird at all, since he sent him a smile as he got up.

"I just wanted to tell you to have fun today. You probably want to go into the Truth Booth, so I’ll make sure that you guys get voted in."

Now _that_ was really surprising. Bellamy didn’t know where that was coming from, and why he would vote for him since they had no communication until now. Even though he didn’t know if Maya was his perfect match, he personally thought that it would make more sense if the group would send a different couple into the Truth Booth. Raven and Finn had chemistry from the beginning, so the possibility that they could be a perfect match was much higher than Maya being his.

"Well, thank you I guess? I mean it would make more sense if you guys chose Raven and Finn, but I’m not the one who must vote anyway, so. Just make sure that you vote wisely." he warned.

Zeke nodded and patted his shoulder. "I can’t force anyone to vote for someone they don’t want to see go into the Truth Booth, so I think we’ll have to just wait and see." Zeke left soon after that, leaving him alone with Murphy.

Bellamy wished he could say that being here was annoying and if he could, he would fly back home, but he was actually liking it here. The guys he shared the room with were all decent and they got along pretty well given the circumstances, especially since last night they had a good time getting to know each other.

"Getting nervous, big Blake?"

Yesterday, Murphy had started addressing him in such a manner since he’d decided to call his sister ‘Little Blake’. Bellamy wasn’t fond of it at first, but he got used to the nickname quickly (Murphy enjoyed annoying him with it all night long).

Bellamy turned around and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah, I’m not nervous at all. I guess that’s something for the girls, you know?"

He hoped it didn’t sound rude. Sure, he looked forward to the date and wanted to have a good time with Maya, but he didn’t think that there was a need to be anxious.

"Understandable, especially if there aren’t feelings involved yet. Just have a great time, make her happy." Murphy granted.

"Sure, that’s the plan. Anyway… I’ll see you later." Bellamy said.

With that, he made his way downstairs where everyone else was waiting for Aryana to come and tell them more about their getaway date. When he arrived, it was already 2:45 pm, so he figured that she would be on her way now, if not be there in less than two minutes. Bellamy looked around, searching for Maya and found her sitting on the couch with Emori and Harper to her right side. As soon as his date caught sight of him, she sent him a warm smile that he gladly returned. He advanced towards her and sat down next to her, leaning forward with his forearms on his thighs as he turned his face to hers.

"You okay?" he asked reassuringly.

 Maya nodded. He could see her blushing as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Right, she was certainly cute… he hoped he wouldn’t hurt her by any means because she truly deserved better than that.

"Excited about what we gon’ do?" he drawled with an eager grin.

"Yes. I mean… I’m okay with doing anything but hiking. It’s not like I’m that athletic, so…" silence chased after her unsteady words.

"Oh, well I guess if that’s what we’re gonna do, I’ll have to carry you up the mountains. Don’t you worry about that." he consoled.

Maya chuckled lightly before she laid her head on Bellamy’s toned shoulder, trying to hide the pink flush that kissed the bulbs of her cheeks. 

Just as he opened his mouth so speak, Aryana sauntered into the living room, standing in front of them beside the TV atop the wall across from the couch occupied by the competitors.

"Well, here I am again. Did you guys miss me?" she taunted.

Just like the first time they met Aryana, Jasper was the one who spoke up first.

"Sure did. Wouldn’t be the same without you anyway." Jasper sang.

Aryana snickered at his response.

"Right. So how are our pairs doing? Ready to find out what you’re doing today?”

"Yeah and it better be something that doesn’t have anything to do with hiking. Maya’s not a great fan of that." Bellamy teased as he turned his head around to look at Maya, but she hid her face into his shoulder even more. He smiled.

Aryana shook her head as a laugh erupted from within her petite form.

"No. You’re gonna have a picnic at the Griffith Park. Each pair has their own space, so nobody gets disturbed. Sounds nice doesn’t it?" she questioned rhetorically.

It _did_ sound nice. The view from the top of the park was amazing, that was for sure and Bellamy knew so from the pictures. He couldn’t wait to get up there and spend some private time with Maya. He really wanted to get to know her more, but it was hard with twenty other people around at all times.

"Alright. Get your asses up and let’s go!" Aryana cheered.

The couples did not need to be told twice. Everyone hugged the people they had gotten close to and said their farewells before leaving the house. They would be gone for four hours, spending time with someone who could be their perfect match. Obviously, they weren’t positive about that, but they would find out sooner or later and until then, they would use the amount of time they had to do so.

# # # # # # # # # #

3.30 pm.

Bellamy and Maya were walking through the Griffith Park for nearly fifteen minutes now. The weather was great, with nothing to complain about. Regardless, Bellamy was thinking, a lot. Maya didn’t seem to notice that he drifted away sometimes, instead occupied enjoying her time with a guy like Bellamy and no one could blame her.

Earlier, when they had been sitting on a blanket in the park, Bellamy got to know more about her past and why she decided to attend the Dating Show. Maya opened up to him, telling him how she never had a boyfriend and that one of her friends made her apply for this show. When she was sixteen, she and her friend swore to each other that if one of them were still to be single when they turn twenty, the other would fill in the application and send it to the show. And here she was, hoping that she could not only win a million dollars, but also, finally find a boyfriend.

Bellamy knew he wouldn’t be a good boyfriend. He never was and that’s why the last two years he preferred casual hook-ups rather than relationships. So if they should really get voted into the Truth Booth, he hoped that they wouldn’t be a match. Not because he didn’t like Maya, that wasn’t the problem, but she wanted a relationship… with everything included and he wasn’t that type of guy. Maya didn’t seem to know that or well, she acted as though she didn’t.

At some point, Maya stopped walking and spun to Bellamy. He gave her a confused look, but she just shook her head lightly, making sure that he knew everything was fine.

"I just wanted to thank you." she breathed softly.

_Thank you_? "What for?" She smiled at him, genuine.

"You made my day… I don’t know I’m just glad that I can be here with you." He furrowed his brows lightly but didn’t try to hide the delight that crossed his lips. Yes, she was cute indeed.

The next thing he could feel were her lips on his cheek, delicate against his rough skin. He looked at her as his smile turned into a smirk.

"You know, you could’ve just kissed me." he quipped.

Bellamy could see her blushing and for a second, he thought that he’d been too forward, but Maya took two steps towards him and wrapped her arms around his broad neck. He leaned in closer and kissed her tenderly. Maya didn’t kiss him back immediately, but when she did, he could feel her mouth curling upwards against his lips.

Now he was sure that he had made her day.

# # # # # # # # # #

4 pm.

The house was quiet. Clarke didn’t know why, but it was. She was spread out on the couch in the living room with Emori next to her. Miller and Murphy were in the kitchen, sitting on the bar stools as they talked about some video games Clarke didn’t know. To her left, she saw Harper and Sasha taking a nap as Zeke, Monty and Roan were playing cards on the carpet. Jackson and Wells decided to go upstairs to do their own thing. She was _bored_.

Clarke hated the fact that they hadn’t been allowed to bring their phones with them. It wasn’t like she couldn’t survive without it, but right now she _needed_ it to overcome her _boredom_. She didn’t think that the others couldn’t be fun, but since nobody wanted to do the same activities each day, they decided to do nothing (even though they already had a full day of nothingness the day prior). Clarke didn’t mind; She was a home chiller anyway, but she wanted to live. She didn’t come here only to do nothing, and it pissed her off.

She nudged Emori’s leg with her foot, making her look at her instead of the ceiling.

"Clarke," she hissed "What do you want?"

Clarke sat up and motioned her to take a peek at the others. Emori just rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the ceiling. _Unbelievable_. No one was willing to do anything and everyone else she got close to was on the fucking gateway date. Raven with Finn, Octavia with Jasper and Bellamy with Maya.

Yeah, _Bellamy_. They didn’t talk anymore, not after what happened on Tuesday. She felt bad for ignoring him, she really did, but she just couldn’t, as much as she wanted to, she _couldn’t_ talk to him. What confused her even more was the fact that he didn’t make a move towards her either. At all. He didn’t look at her, talk to her, God, he literally _avoided_ her. She didn’t know if he was mad at her, or if he was embarrassed. Even if she wanted to think that she had all the right to ignore him, she knew that she was wrong. She sighed in contempt.

"Clarke, you okay?"

Emori had a worried look on her face. It was nice knowing that they had grown so close already. Nonetheless, she was surprised that Emori figured something was wrong. Clarke shrugged her shoulders and got up.

"Nothing…Yeah, _nothing_ and that’s the problem. Everyone is doing their own thing and I’m bored stiff." Clarke grumbled.

"Do you want us to call everyone? We could vote a couple into the Truth Booth and all cook together? Since Bellamy’s on his date we must cook for ourselves so we have something for later." Emori contemplated.

"Yeah, let’s do it." she was in agreement.

With that, Clarke rose up and stretched her back, a subtle crack echoing from her tense spinal column. Finally, they would do something after an hour of inactivity. She told Emori that she should go get Jackson and Wells and she would make sure that everyone else got together in pairs for the voting. Emori complied and went upstairs.

Clarke clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention, working instantly. It took them all a few minutes to wake up Harper and Sasha. Within ten minutes, they were all paired up. They chose to go after each other without being too close to be able to see who the other pairs voted into the Truth Booth.

Miller, Murphy and Jackson were the first ones to vote and picked Bellamy and Maya. Clarke and Emori followed after, making their way to the TV to vote for Raven and Finn. It was Roan’s and Zeke’s turn who voted for Bellamy and Maya, as well. Harper and Sasha were next, picking Jasper and Octavia, same as Wells and Monty. Luna, Echo, Lexa and Costia all voted for Raven and Finn.

After locking in their ballot, they returned to the kitchen, discussing what they would prepare for dinner. Luna was the first to suggest something.

_ Interview _ _\- Luna Florin, Oklahoma City, OK (22): Independent but can’t cook_

_"I left my family’s house when I was sixteen years old. They had too many rules I needed to follow and at one point I just had enough. Fun Fact: Even though I live alone, I have no idea how to cook – at all."_

"What about lasagne?" Clarke could see Jackson shake his head with a disgusted look on his face.

_ Interview _ _\- Eric Jackson, Washington, DC (25): Work over relationship_

_"I always put my work as a doctor above a relationship. I never wanted to deal with it and didn’t have the time either. At one point, I figured that I don’t want to die alone and that’s why I am here now."_

"As much as I like lasagne, we already had spaghetti on Monday and pizza yesterday. I think we should eat something that isn’t Italian." he pointed out.

Most of the people who weren’t on the getaway date agreed; They had Italian meals three times in a row already, they had had enough.

Costia was the next one who spoke.

"Okay, so nothing Italian… what about Mexican? Chili con carne?" she suggested.

Clarke heard Murphy uttering something under his breath. Clearly, he didn’t like it and to be honest… she _hated_ Chili con carne, too.

_ Interview _ _\- Costia Trenai, Philadelphia, PA (22): Put her health over her family_

_"I came out to my family two years ago on Thanksgiving and they didn’t like it, to say the least. They hated the fact and called me many names. They didn’t want to be around me anymore and it hurt, because I had nobody but my family. Living on my own made it worse and I fell into depression. Had to go to a psychiatrist for over a year but then I decided: enough is enough. I pulled myself together, forgot that my family existed and started a new life. New surroundings, friends… and I’m happy now. But one thing is missing: A girlfriend."_

"I’m not going to eat that ever again in my life, sorry, but let’s think about something else."

Murphy raised his eyebrow at her but nodded and she sent him a light smile in return. Some seconds passed and still nobody had any requests. Everyone noticed the absence of Bellamy, even though they all decided what he would make them. Now they didn’t even have ideas – they were fucked.

"When will they come back again?"

Everyone turned their head around to face Echo, since it was the first time after the drama she had started on Monday, that she spoke again. They were all surprised, but Wells was diplomatic enough to answer her question.

"I think Aryana said something about 6 pm. Why?" he was curious.

"Depending on what we want to cook, we have enough time. We could make a buffet or something? So, everyone has something they can eat." _Smart_ , Clarke thought. It didn’t increase her liking of Echo better than before, definitely not, but her idea was good, and it would make it easier for everyone not to decide on one meal.

"Okay, yeah, that’s great… we could stay in the pairs we already made for the voting, we split the groups for the main dish and dessert, how does that sound?" the blonde asked.

Everyone agreed on Echo’s idea and got into making food. Miller, Murphy and Jackson decided to clean the house while Harper and Sasha made the rice. Roan and Zeke were responsible for the sauce whereas Monty, Wells, Luna and Echo prepared chicken. Clarke, Emori, Lexa and Costia made sure they had two different kinds of dessert. Clarke and Emori baked some small chocolate lava cakes as Lexa and Costia decided to prepare curd with strawberries in it.

At 5.15 pm., everything was ready and placed on the kitchen counter, the table already set. Each contestant took their showers afterwards before they headed downstairs again, waiting for the pairs of the getaway date to come back.

# # # # # # # # # #

6 pm.

It was quiet again and Clarke wanted to freak out. She couldn’t sit there on the couch anymore, doing nothing other than waiting for the others to come back. They finished cooking already forty-five minutes ago and she had already taken her shower almost right after that. The only positive thing that happened while waiting was her conversation with Wells.

She learned that he was the son of a former sitting member, but his dad died in the hospital after he got shot. Clarke felt sorry for him and wanted to tell him about her own dad, but she didn’t feel comfortable enough to talk to Wells about it yet. Other than that, they talked about random stuff like interests they had or what they do for a living. He was quite nice, a great person to talk to, but after he left, she found herself desperate for some action once again.

Just as she thought it would only get worse, the front door opened, and Finn entered the house with Raven on his back. Clarke jumped from the couch and soon and quickly after, everyone rushed to the front door, surrounding the dates.

"I need to know everything" she could hear Harper say from not far away. She knew that she would be curious about what happened between the couples and Clarke was too if she admitted it to herself. For all of them.

_ Interview _ _\- Harper McIntyre, Nashville, TN (21): Jealous much_

_"All the relationships I had in the past were horrible. I thought I would never have a good relationship anymore and because of that I hated on every other couple. That’s what I want to change. I want a great relationship and to stop hating on other couples’ happiness."_

Clarke saw Raven jump off Finn’s back before he turned around to her and leaned in for a kiss. Everyone begun clapping, shouting and cheering. It was cute, and she was happy for Raven. She deserved to be happy, they all did after their past relationships and that’s what they were here for: Building new and healthy connections.

"Alright girls, let’s go to our room then. Maya, you coming?" Emori claimed eagerly.

Clarke totally forgot about Maya… and Bellamy. She turned her head around to look at the both of them and when she did she was surprised… kind of.

Bellamy had his arm draped across her shoulder and Maya’s wrapped around his waist. She didn’t know if this was a good sign or not- _wait, what_? _Good sign_? She shook her head and faced Emori instead of them.

"Sure." Clarke responded.

"Great! Sorry guys, but you’re going to be alone for a few minutes… or hours? Who knows." Raven kissed Finn goodbye one last time before the whole group split up again.

Clarke turned around now, thinking it was time to speak to Bellamy and apologize. She could ask the girls about their dates later, but right now she really wanted to get what was between her and Bellamy out of the way. Clarke didn’t expect him to look her way anyways, but when she noticed, their eyes fastened on one another. Since they had met at the airport, it was becoming something normal between them and Clarke had no idea why.

She was about to approach him when she felt a hand grab her shoulder to turn her around. It was Octavia.

"Come on, Clarke, don’t waste time."

Clarke nodded at the sister, who rejoined to the others. She turned around to see if Bellamy was still there, but he wasn’t. She sighed. There would be another opportunity to talk to him, she thought before she went upstairs to accompany her friends.

# # # # # # # # # #

"You have to tell us everything! All of you."

It seemed like Harper wasn’t the only one who wanted to know how the dates of their friends went. Emori was just as curious as her and Clarke felt bad for it. Sure, she wanted to know about the dates, but she had her own problems and Emori and Harper, too. None of them had really interacted with a lot of the guys yet, usually they we were on their own and the guys spent their time with each other. It was hard making connections if nobody made the first step. Sunday was closer than they thought, and they had to start getting to know different people.

Octavia was the first one who told them about her date with Jasper.

"The Griffith Park had such a great view and we sat on the grass with a blanket. We had a picnic going on, actually all of us, but on different spots, so each one of us couples were alone."

"So, what happened between you and Jasper?! How is he? Would your brother approve?" Clarke could see Harper wiggling her eyebrows. God, she was real curious. Octavia couldn’t stop herself from laughing.

"It went well. We had a great time together and at one point I was cold, and he gave me his jacket. He was so nice the whole time and he’s funny. Jasper was so good at making me laugh, yet it wasn’t childish or weird in anyway, and at the close of the date, I just kissed him. I don’t know, he might not be my perfect match, but we get along very well and he’s cute." she finished.

Harper was the first one to react as she pulled Octavia into a hug. They were all happy for her, since they knew about her past relationship with a guy named Atom.

_ Interview _ _\- Octavia: The little sister_

_"Atom was a great guy, but he never told me that he was friends with my brother. You have to keep in mind that Bellamy’s overprotective and he didn’t like the fact that one of his best friends touched me in ways he didn’t want to think about. Soon after my brother found out, Atom left the state without telling me anything. I was mad at him and Bellamy for weeks, but later I understood why my brother didn’t want me to be with him."_

Clarke turned around to face Raven and smiled at her. In the past couple days, the two of them became pretty close, so it was no secret that she wanted to know about her date with Finn.

"Come on, Rae, how was your date with Finn?" she prodded.

That got everyone else’s attention and Raven had to roll her eyes, but the smile never left her face.

"I’m going to describe it with three words only: Nice, warm and dirty." she gleamed.

"Wow, and here I was thinking a kiss on the first date wouldn’t be appropriate."

Clarke let out a snort at Emori’s comment. She knew Emori was joking, but there were people out there who really thought it would be inappropriate. Well, somehow, she couldn’t blame them.

Clarke saw how Raven shrugged her shoulder with a smirk on her face.

"I mean we didn’t do it on the blanket, okay? We went to the restroom of the observatory, so it’s fine."

Harper shook her head but laughed along with all the other girls. They couldn’t judge or blame Raven for having sex with Finn on their first date. God, _Clarke couldn’t judge her_. She hadn’t been better after all…

Octavia recovered from their laughing session and asked Maya how her date with her brother went.

"It was nice. We walked around for a good half an hour and he was very attentive, asked me a lot of question and really listened to what I was saying…"

"I don’t want to be rude though, but did you kiss, or did you not kiss. That’s all I want to know." Harper stated.

Clarke raised an eyebrow at Maya and grinned lightly. "Did you or did you not?" she chimed in.

Since everyone was looking at Maya, they could all see how she started blushing. Clarke knew what that meant… She wasn’t jealous or anything since she was the one who told Bellamy that they shouldn’t fuck around anymore, and it was the right decision. Fantastic sex didn’t mean that they could be a perfect match, and that was what they were here for. Damn, Clarke really did need to start getting to know other boys and girls…

"Uh-huh."

Emori let herself fall from the bed while Harper jumped onto Maya. Raven just started laughing as she shook her head. Octavia was hugging Maya as well. Clarke smiled. Maya was cute and from what she knew, also intelligent and Bellamy was a great guy… Okay, sure, they didn’t talk much since they were sitting next to each other on the plane, but she was sure that he was.

"So, I’m telling you again," Octavia said while letting go of Maya, "if you hurt him, I’ll hurt you. If he hurts you, I’ll hurt him."

Maya smiled fondly at the younger sibling, "Don’t worry, I won’t."

Just as Raven was about to say something, the door to their room opened. Every one of them turned their head around to look at who it was… Lincoln.

_ Interview _ _\- Lincoln Tripilus, Orlando, FL (26): Strong outer appearance but a real softie_

_"I had some issues with my dad when I was younger, and I never knew how to get rid of my anger. One time, a good friend of mine took me with him to a boxing session and that’s how my love for sports started. I do sports, I watch sports. It’s now part of my life, but it never changed the fact that I still have emotions and I have no problem showing them to the right people."_

"I’m sorry to disturb you, but we want to eat now… Aryana should be here in half an hour for the Truth Booth, so we should have dinner before that." he spoke.

"Sure thing, Lincoln, we’ll be downstairs in a second." Raven sent him a genuine smile that he gave back before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"He looks so good, yet he seems to be all soft and kind, how is that possible?" Octavia swooned.

Clarke couldn’t stop herself from laughing.

"Octavia, you just kissed Jasper, don’t hurt him like that." Octavia shrugged her shoulders as she got up from the bed. They all left the room and until then, she didn’t respond to Clarke.

"I’m just saying, you know? There’s something about him and I would like to figure out what it is…" Clarke wrapped her arm around Octavia’s shoulder.

"No one is blaming you. You’re just playing the game, finding your perfect match, and if you think Lincoln has more of a chance to be yours than Jasper, go for it."

Octavia stopped walking and turned to face Clarke. She had no idea what the girl was about to do until she was pulled into a hug by the younger one.

"Thanks, Clarke. I really appreciate that." Clarke hugged her back for a moment before both of them pulled away. After that, she just waved her off and smiled.

"It’s fine. Come on, let’s get going." With that, they commenced downstairs with the others, eating together as they waited for Aryana to come.

# # # # # # # # # #

7 pm.

The whole group was seated on the massive couch in front of the TV while Aryana stood next to it. She had just entered the room. The dates were sitting on the bar stools they got from the kitchen behind the couch, so Aryana could have a better view of them.

"What’s up, guys, ready for your first Truth Booth?" she pried.

"Bring it on!" Zeke shouted.

He wasn’t the only one who had been excited for the past half an hour, they all were but the thought of failing had crossed everyone’s mind. Clarke was sure that with Raven and Finn, they had a fifty-fifty chance. She didn’t know about the others, but it would be way too good to get a perfect match in their first week and five hundred thousand dollars on top of a million.

"Well, before we take a look at who you voted into the Truth Booth, let’s see what the guys have to say about their dates. Finn, how was your date with Raven?" she prodded.

"It was everything that I could imagine. Raven has such an amazing personality and I loved spending time with her. I’m pretty sure that she’s my perfect match." he said in confidence.

_ Interview _ _\- Finn Collins, Portland, OR (22): Everyone’s sweetheart_

_"I never had a problem with getting a girlfriend, really, but it wasn’t what I wanted. But this time? I guess Raven is pretty much all I want, and I do believe that we could have a future together."_

"I told you, we can already hear the bells ringing." Murphy said out loud. Aryana just shook her, but she couldn’t hide her smile.

"Jasper, can your date compete Finn’s?" Jasper snorted as he wrapped one arm around Octavia’s shoulder.

"As long as I know that Octavia enjoyed our date, I don’t need to compete with anyone." Several people clapped at Jasper’s response, because… well it was true. Why would he compare his date with Finn and Raven’s if his date had been good enough for them? There was no reason to do so.

Bellamy was the next one who got asked by Aryana.

"I mean a date with a beautiful girl with an amazing view over Los Angeles? Can’t complain." Bellamy grinned.

"Sounds like the girls turned your minds around," Aryana stated "but let’s get serious. Who of you kissed on the first date." her voice dropped to a lower octave.

Raven laughed lightly as she threw her head back.

"We all kissed. Like not- I kissed Finn. Octavia and Jasper kissed and so did Bellamy and Maya, not everyone kissed everyone I mean." Raven stumbled.

Aryana threw her head back in a gleeful laugh.

"Well, I never thought that would happen anyway,” She clapped her hands together and motioned to the TV screen. "Let’s see who you guys voted into the Truth Booth then!” She exclaimed.

Clarke had watched the pairs sitting behind her the whole time Aryana asked them about the dates. She tried to figure out how possible it could be for them to have a confirmed perfect match in the first week of the show, yet just by looking at them, she could really only see Finn and Raven being a perfect match from the three pairs that went on the gateway date.

She turned her head back to the screen, hoping that enough people actually voted for her friend Raven and she wasn’t surprised when a picture of her and Finn showed up on the TV.

"You guys voted Raven and Finn into your very first Truth Booth! Now, get up and go outside. You’ll see a path that brings you to it and wait for your confirmation or… you lose five hundred thousand dollars and have no perfect match. To the rest of you? We see you all on Sunday at your first Matching Ceremony. Make sure you choose wisely and get to know _everybody_ in this house. Do that, find love and win-"

"One million dollars." They said in unison.

It was still ridiculous. Clarke had no idea when they started answering all together at the same moment, but it was _ridiculous_.

Aryana left after that and Finn and Raven made their way to the Truth Booth. They all wished them good luck and sat down again, waiting for the conformation of them being a perfect match to come on the screen. But, that didn’t mean they were one hundred percent convinced of them being one, that would be too good to be true.

"I bet they are no match. We’re really going to lose that money…" Lexa said from some seats next to her. "There is no way they are a perfect match, I’m telling you guys right now."

"Yeah," Murphy responded, raising an eyebrow at her "Did you forget about the chemistry they had from the beginning?" He mocked.

Lexa shot him a glare then continued watching the screen. Clarke didn’t know why, but she liked her. There was something about Lexa that impressed her. She didn’t talk much to her yet, but she definitely wanted to and would try to start a conversation with her soon.

_ Interview _ _\- Lexa Trance, Chicago, IL (23): Love is weakness_

_"I don’t do relationships. Well, I am here now, but that’s only because my friend told me to stop saying that ‘Love is weakness’ even though I still think it is. I don’t know, I’ll see what will happen."_

Clarke turned her head back to the screen. Nobody had an idea when they would get to know if Finn and Raven were a perfect match, but they were all just looking at the TV. It couldn’t take that long… could it? That was torture. Not only for the group that was sitting in front of it, but especially for Finn and Raven who were standing in the Truth Booth waiting for the result.

Just as Clarke wanted to nudge Emori who was sitting to her right side, the result came in.

_No Match._

Everybody growled and stood up, clearly annoyed by the fact that they were right: Finn and Raven were no match and they knew it from the beginning.

"Great. Let’s just stop right here." Miller said frustrated.

Clarke could understand. Raven and Finn being a confirmed couple was their only hope today and now that they knew they weren’t… well, seems like even with a great chemistry right from the start there was a high possibility to not be a perfect match. God, Clarke hated this. And she hated the look on Raven’s face when she entered the mansion again.

She was the first one who got up and hugged her. She knew that Raven really liked Finn, and she didn’t doubt that he was a great guy, but if they weren’t a match then they had to accept that.

"Hey… it’s gonna be okay… better finding out you’re no match now than a few weeks further in the show."

Clarke didn’t know if it was comforting enough, but she knew that Raven wasn’t stupid. She knew she was right.

Raven nodded, making Clarke pull away and smile at her. She took a step back and let Emori, Harper, Maya and Octavia comfort Raven instead. Raven told them she was going to talk to Finn for a minute. They all let her go and made their way upstairs. They couldn’t do much for her anymore and after they failed confirming a perfect match, everyone was devastated and called it a night.

# # # # # # # # # #

8 pm.

Bellamy didn’t register how long he stood in front of his sister’s room, but he knew he had to make a move. After what happened an hour ago and thinking a lot about how things should continue, he finally decided to be honest. He sighed one time again, before he knocked on the door. Seconds later the door swung open and he automatically regretted coming here in the first place.

_Clarke_ was standing in front of him, wearing nothing but some tight shorts and a nude bra that did great things to her boobs. Bellamy heard her clear her throat and that’s what made him look up to her face again. She was raising one eyebrow at him and he just shrugged, smirking lightly. Once he remembered why he was here again, his facial expression turned serious again.

“Is Maya here?" He spoke tentatively.

"Yeah. Why?" The confusion read clear through Clarke’s face.

"I need to talk to her for a second."

She looked back into the room then back to him.

"Sure, I’m gonna get her, wait here."

Bellamy nodded and saw Clarke walking inside. He ran his hand over his face as he waited for Maya to emerge from the room. When she did, she was smiling at him, causing Bellamy a serious urge to punch himself in the face. He returned her smile lightly before she closed the door behind her.

"Clarke said you wanted to talk to me?" She pressed with wide, doe eyes.

"Yeah, but let’s go outside, okay?"

Bellamy saw her nodding at him, so he took her hand in his and led her downstairs, heading to the garden of the mansion. Maya didn’t question him once and he didn’t say anything either. Seconds later they reached a garden four poster bed and sat down on it, facing each other. Maya sat down with her legs crossed while Bellamy turned to her with his upper body.

Minutes passed in silence and he knew he had to say something, he was the one who wanted to talk to her. She was in the dark, so he had to speak first. He closed his eyes and let out a breath before he opened them again, looking into her eyes.

"Look, Maya, I really had a great time with you today and you have a great personality. Your kind and lovely… intelligent and beautiful and I wish I wouldn’t have to do this right now…"

Bellamy could see her frown a little bit. Sure, she didn’t understand where he wanted to go with this and if Maya didn’t remind him of his ex-girlfriend than he wouldn’t be sitting here right now.

 "This," he motioned between them "can’t and won’t work. Not because I think you’re not good enough for me, God no, but _I’m_ not good for _you_. You deserve someone better than me." He could feel a lump rise to his throat.

Maya shook her head and wanted to take his hand, but he pulled his away before she could reach it. She didn’t try again but got closer anyway.

"What do you mean, Bellamy?" she asked in bewilderment.

He sighed again and raked his fingers through his hair.

"I just want you to be happy and there is no way you’re going to be happy with me-"

"You don’t know that!" She pleaded.

He hated this. He really did, but there was no way this could, _should_ go any further with them. He would just hurt her in the end and she deserved better than that. He just wanted her to understand.

"Maya… don’t make it harder than it is already." He groaned.

"No, Bellamy, I don’t… I just don’t understand what you want to say. Our date was great, we kissed, I- did I do something wrong? Please tell me what I did wrong…" Maya’s voice wavered.

Bellamy shook his head and this time he was the one reaching for her hands. She looked down at them locked together, before looking up to him again. _Fuck_. Her eyes were full to the brim with tears, threatening to break free. She was crying because of _him_. He didn’t want to hurt her, yet he was already doing so. He shouldn’t have kissed her, the whole date was a mistake and if he could, he would turn back time, but he couldn’t. There was no way he could keep hurting her, so better end it now than later.

"You didn’t do anything wrong, believe me, it’s just… I’m wrecked, and my past is fucked up. I don’t want you to deal with this, Maya…"

"But you just said it… it’s the past. Let the past be the past and-" she shook her head frantically.

"I said no." He insisted.

Maya didn’t say anything, she just pulled her hands away and put them in her lap, facing them. Bellamy threaded his fingers through his hair again, a nervous habit of him. He hated this situation.

They stayed silent for some minutes, before she looked at him again. He could see that she had a lot of questions, probably about his past and why he considered himself fucked up, but he couldn’t answer them. Not now, not to her. Eventually, he had to talk about it, but it just didn’t feel right to do it now.

"Listen… I can understand if you don’t want to have to do anything with me anymore and that’s fine. I just want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you and that you _really_ deserve better than me. We don’t even know if we’re a perfect match and there are a lot of great guys in here, with… you just deserve better, okay? _Please_ understand that." He begged.

She nodded slowly, taking in what he just said and tried to bring herself to understanding. Bellamy knew he was a horrible person right now, but sooner or later she would thank him for ending things before something real even started.

He stood up and offered her his hand as support for her to get up. Maya took it and followed him back inside. She knew she couldn’t do anything about changing his mind and she wasn’t going to try to convince him differently. Bellamy was thankful for that, but deep inside he felt like shit.

When they reached the door to her room, he stopped her from opening it before saying anything, "I’m sorry, really and I hope you believe me."

All she did was nod at him then let go of his hand. He took a step backwards and that’s when she opened the door. Bellamy could see the girls inside the room as they turned to look at Maya before she closed the door behind her. He sighed again, but there wasn’t much to do. He did the right thing and he hoped nobody would blame him for that. He turned around and made his way back to his room, there was nothing that could be done.

# # # # # # # # # #

The first thing Clarke noticed when Maya entered the room was how silently she walked to the bed she shared with Harper. Sure, Maya didn’t talk that much in general, but it was obvious that her mood from earlier had changed. And she was sure that she wasn’t the only one who realized that.

"Maya, you okay?" Emori asked as she got up from her bed and made her way to Maya’s. Again, Emori showed how worried she was and Clarke felt the same way. She walked closer to Maya soon after that and Raven and Octavia followed. That was the moment when Maya started crying with her hands covering her face. _What the fuck happened_?

"Oh god, Maya…" Raven wrapped her arm around her and pulled her closer to her.

They didn’t say anything at first, just sat there and made sure that she let all the tears out. Clarke didn’t know what to do, she didn’t expect that anyone else would feel… well sad about something. First Raven, even though she didn’t cry, and now Maya. God, she hated this.

A few minutes passed until Maya pulled herself away from Raven and stopped crying. Harper handed her some tissues and she thanked her for them quietly. No one pushed her to say anything, but she did tell them anyway as soon as she recovered from her sobs.

"Bellamy…-"

" _Jesus_ , what did he do this time. I swear if he hurt you I-" Octavia started.

Maya shook her head.

"Don’t… please, Octavia. He was nice enough to come and talk to me today. He… he said we shouldn’t… I don’t know, he told me that I deserve better than him and…" she trailed off.

Nobody interrupted her and thankfully, Octavia stayed calm. Clarke was sure that she was angry from the inside, but she had to keep it together for Maya.

"He told me that I have a great personality and some things like that… he said something about being fucked up and that his past was too and… I don’t know it’s just over, I guess? Whatever we had." her voice was just above a whisper.

Clarke wanted to focus on Maya, but she couldn’t. She looked at Octavia even though she wanted to know what was going on, especially why Bellamy said something like this to Maya. Octavia for sure knew what he meant by mentioning his past to Maya and she knew she was right the moment she saw Octavia clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth.

"Excuse me, but I’m going to have a talk with my dumbass brother. Stay with her, guys. Make sure she’s okay when I come back. Could take half an hour or even a full one."

She turned on her heels and was about to leave the room when Clarke stood up and followed her.

"Octavia! Don’t be harsh t- Octavia!"

The younger girl ignored her, and Clarke couldn’t help it but follow her to Bellamy’s room. She knew she couldn’t stop Octavia, but she wouldn’t let her slap Bellamy or yell at him for… she didn’t know for what, but he had his reasons and they should respect that.

Octavia didn’t even bother knocking on the door, she just kicked it open with her foot and marched into the room. Clarke trailed in immediately, making sure that she wouldn’t break more stuff.

"Where the fuck is my brother!"

It wasn’t a question and Clarke was sure it wasn’t meant to be one in the first place. Only then she noticed how everyone’s eyes were on them.

"Toilet. Getting ready for bed a- well I guess he’s standing right behind you."

Clarke didn’t know if she should thank Murphy or not. Octavia was definitely going to do something… she wasn’t quite sure what she should expect but in her state? She could imagine a lot things.

"What’s up, O?" Bellamy questioned as he made his way to his bed only to get his forearm grabbed by his sister. He turned towards her and crocked his head to the side in confusement.

"Bellamy, you’re going to _die_ , I’m telling you right now! And don’t you dare lie to me about what you did to Maya. I _fucking_ told you not to hurt her, yet she comes in crying about some dumb ass stuff you said to her. Really? Did you _fucking_ have to bring up the past? And act like you’re the poor little boy!? You better make it up or I swear to God-"

He pulled his arm away from her grip and glared at her, stepping closer to his sister, but she shoved him back. Clarke really wanted to get in between but it was something between the siblings and she didn’t want to get involved when it wasn’t her place. It seemed like everyone else in the room was thinking the same.

"Don’t you dare talk to me like this, O! This is _not_ my fault and you know that. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you anyway! G-" He cut himself off and shook his head but continued talking before Octavia could yell at him again. "You don’t have a say in this anyway, so don’t play the big girl here, do you hear me?! I was the one who went to p-" He stopped again, and Clarke wondered what all of this was about. Did it really have to do with Maya or were they fighting about something else?

She couldn’t think about that long enough, since Octavia shoved her brother again and hit his chest with her first.

"I apologized for that a million times, Bellamy, so _don’t_ try and bring this up again! If this is the reason why you cut things off with Maya, I swear to God, Blake-"

Clarke wasn’t fast enough to process everything what was happening, but she saw Bellamy grabbing Octavia by the forearm and pulling her out of the room whereas the younger one was ready to slap him, but he stopped her by slamming the door. She waited a moment, thinking Octavia was coming in again, but she didn’t. Clarke waited minutes and minutes for her to enter the room, but she _really_ didn’t. She wasn’t sure if things like that happened often between the siblings, but this was… she couldn’t even describe it. She never saw siblings fighting like that.

Only when she heard someone clear their throat, she realized that she was still standing in the middle of the guys’ room and that Octavia left her alone with them. She felt quite uncomfortable but remembered that it was probably her moment to talk to Bellamy, who wasn’t in the room anymore. She looked at Miller, ready to ask him where he went but he understood immediately and tilted his head to the side, motioning that he went to the closet. She sent him a light smile before she walked to the closet.

When she entered, Bellamy was wearing something different than before… well something _less_ than before. He was only wearing some sweatpants and that’s when she noticed she wasn’t wearing much either. She was still in nothing but her bra and some shorts, yet she wasn’t embarrassed over the fact the he saw her like this again, _but_ she was because the other guys did.

She shook her head, trying to focus on being here to comfort Bellamy. Clarke closed the door behind her and moved towards him. Only then he realized that he wasn’t alone anymore. When he looked up at her, she could see how tired he’d been.

"You alright?" He waved her off and put the clothes from earlier in his drawer "If you want to ta-"

"I don’t really want to talk right now, Clarke!" He snapped.

Clarke stopped walking towards him but didn’t make a move to leave either. She knew he didn’t mean to talk to her like this, he was just tired and didn’t want to talk about what happened, she understood that. Clarke saw him closing his eyes as he combed through his thick curls with one hand, letting out a breath.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-"

She cut him off. "It’s okay, don’t worry."

She sent him a light smile which he returned before he sat down on the floor against the free wall. Clarke couldn’t help it and went to sit in front of him with her legs crossed. She wouldn’t push him. He had to decide when he was ready to talk, even though she knew he wouldn’t.

They stayed like this for probably ten minutes and Clarke was losing hope. She didn’t know what to do with him. Bellamy clearly didn’t want to talk, but she wanted to be there for him, as a… friend. Yeah, a _friend_.

She looked at him, but he had his eyes closed, head against the wall. He really did look tired… and kinda hurt, too. God, she hated that look on his face, it didn’t fit there.

Before she realized what she was doing she was hugging him, arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him close to her. She noticed that he didn’t hug her back and that was okay because Clarke wanted to make sure that _he_ was okay. But, when he didn’t hug her back some seconds later she started to feel uncomfortable, like she crossed a line, even though… well. She started to pull away, but all of the sudden she felt him wrap his arms around her, pulling her closer.

Clarke didn’t say anything, and he didn’t either. There was nothing to say anyway and as long as she could be there for him, as long as she knew that this was what he needed, she would be fine with saying nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! i don't have much to say this time except from three things.
> 
> 1) it's a 12k chapter. i couldn't cut it in 2, so take your time reading it.  
> 2) grab your headphones, play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw_crqWYBCM i'm sure you'll know when.  
> 3) don't drink.
> 
> enjoy!

Week 1, Day 5 – Friday. Los Angeles. 10 pm.

The past two days were depressing, not because they hadn’t much to do, but because there was something in the air. Clarke was one of the few people who knew why it was so thick, and she was asking herself when it would change again.

It was hard ignoring that things were different and even though some people weren’t involved in what happened on Wednesday, they could all feel that something was clearly wrong. Thursday morning, Wells was the first one who asked what happened when they were all eating breakfast. When Bellamy had handed Octavia a plate with bacon, eggs and pancakes, she slapped the plate away and threw one of the pancakes in his face before stomping upstairs. No one of the boys that shared the room with Bellamy had answered Wells, and Clarke didn’t either. She just acted like nothing had happened.

Octavia acted like that, too, as long as her brother wasn’t around and so did he, but whenever the two of them were in the same room, everyone waited for something to happen between the siblings. Unfortunately, on Thursday evening, they hadn’t been sitting downstairs for too long, when it happened.

Bellamy had been sitting on the couch next to Echo. He didn’t do anything, actually, he was just reading (Clarke thought that was all he was doing in life, but under the circumstances of not having their phones with them, she could understand). However, Clarke didn’t miss how Echo’s hand ran over his biceps and Octavia didn’t seem to miss that either. The only one that did was Bellamy, so he had been surprised when his sister slapped the book in his face.

"What the _fuck_ , O?!" he said angrily as he touched his forehead. Octavia just hit the back of his head in response. The next thing Clarke remembered was how Miller got up and pulled Octavia away from Bellamy. He didn’t want to back off so he stood up and threw his hands in the air.

"Tell me, what did I do wrong this time, huh? Just tell me instead of slapping things in my face like a five-year-old!"

Octavia had been able to pull herself from Miller’s grip and glared at her older brother.

"Fuck off, Bell. You don’t even act like you feel sorry about what happened to Maya. You really don’t care! One day passed and Echo is already all over you, you’re disgusting!" she screamed.

Murphy didn’t agree with Octavia and he had been the one to get in between the siblings.

"Wow Octavia, Bellamy didn’t sleep with Echo, okay? Nobody can stand her anyway, so don’t say that. He doesn’t like-"

"Oh, so now he can’t defend himself anymore, hm? Needs help from his fake friends." Octavia spit out.

Bellamy could only shake his head and grabbed his book before he made his way upstairs.

That was the last time Clarke had seen Bellamy and Friday was almost over. She knew it was ridiculous worrying about him, but he didn’t show up to breakfast, lunch _or_ dinner. The group had to cook for themselves today, but in the end, they just decided to do pizza again. Currently, Clarke was sitting in the kitchen with Harper and Luna. She didn’t try to act like she was listening to the conversation, and they didn’t blame her for not taking part in it. Only when she felt someone tap her shoulder, she turned her head around to look at that person. It was Zeke.

"Hey, I kept two pieces of the pizza we made for Bellamy," he said, as he handed her the plate with the slices. "I don’t know, you seemed to be good with him on Wednesday and everyone of us guys already tried to talk to him, but he just snaps at us so…" Clarke grabbed the plate and stood up from the bar stool, waving him off with a light smile on her face.

_ Camera Room _ _– Zeke_

_"I hate that this happened, really. Bellamy didn’t eat the whole day long and isn’t doing much. We, the guys that share the room with him, already tried getting him to eat or out of his bed but he’s not… talking to us."_ He ran a hand over his face. _"It’s horrible, we have to figure something out or it’ll only get worse."_

"Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he eats that." Zeke returned her smiled easily.

Clarke took a water bottle out of the fridge before she headed upstairs. She didn’t know what she should expect once she would enter the room, nobody, except from the guys, knew how he looked or how he was doing.

Clarke had some issues with opening the door since she was carrying the plate in one hand and the water bottle in the other. Luckily, Finn had just come out of his room and noticed her almost immediately.

"Clarke, hey, do you need some help?"

She didn’t know if he was trying to be nice or if he was just… dumb. _Sure_ , she needed help, she couldn’t open that fucking door on her own.

He seemed to realize that his question was dumb, indeed, and moved towards her.

"Sorry, that was probably stupid…" he mumbled.

Finn opened the door for her and she was about to enter the room, but he stopped her, standing in front of her.

"Do you mind talking later?"

Clarke furrowed her brows a little. Why did he want to talk to her now? He never looked at her before when she wanted to start a conversation with him, but after the confirmation of not being a perfect match, she noticed that he got closer to her as much as he could. It was probably harder for him to properly approach her when she was around a bunch of people, but now that she was alone, he finally made his way towards her. Sadly, right now, she had other things to worry about.

Clarke, instead, gave him a light smile as she shook her head.

"I don’t think I have much time later. If you want we can talk tomorrow?"

This time, he was the one to frown. Clarke didn’t know what was wrong with waiting one day, but before she could ask him a smile crossed his face and he took a step to the side.

"It’s okay." He left and Clarke pushed the thought of him away.

She entered the boys’ room and closed the door behind her as quietly as possible. Only when the door closed she noticed how dark it was in the room. There was no light and the net curtains kept the glow coming from the moon out. Clarke didn’t know what to do and how long she actually stood in front of the door but then it hit her: he was sleeping.

The room was quiet since everyone was downstairs. She could only hear them talking a little bit, but that was it. She tried to find the light switch next to the door and was glad when she did. She turned it on, but didn’t move from where she was standing, only to make sure that Bellamy was still sleeping. When he didn’t move nor make a sound, she travelled closer to the window and pulled the curtains out of the way. She turned the light off again once the room was brighter. _Much better_ , she thought.

Clarke inched closer to Bellamy’s bed and sat down on the side that was normally occupied by Miller. She turned her torso around to put the water bottle on the nightstand and placed the plate on her lap before turning back to face Bellamy again. It was the first time she saw him again after two days, and to be honest, she didn’t think he would look that peaceful while sleeping. The moonlight shining on his face made him look more relaxed than she’d ever seen him and she didn’t want to wake him up, but there was no way she would let him stay with an empty stomach.

The blonde girl placed her hand on his shoulder and begun shaking him gently, making sure that he wouldn’t be shocked about getting woken up.

"Bellamy…" she whispered.

He didn’t make a move and she sighed lightly. How would she be able to wake him up now? She had no idea how long he’d been asleep, but she couldn’t just let him continue dozing, so she grabbed his shoulder a little tighter and shook him again.

"Hey…" Still nothing.

Clarke didn’t want to start panicking for no reason, so she placed her index and middle finger on his neck, trying to check his pulse and _thank God_ he was still breathing. Fine, she had to wake him up in another way.

She took the plate out of her lap and put it on the nightstand next to the bottle she placed there a minute ago. She flipped Bellamy on his back and waited for him to wake up. _Nothing_. Why did he have to be such a heavy sleeper?

Without even thinking twice, she straddle him, knees on each sides of his hips and placed her hands on his shoulders, jolting him a bit harder this time.

"Bellamy!" And that was it.

He got up with his core almost right after she spoke out his name and only then Clarke realized how they were positioned right now.

"Uhm…"

She turned her face to the side and by the sight of the food on the nightstand, she remembered why she came here in the first place. Clarke leaned over to grab the plate, never getting off his lap and handed it to him as soon as she faced him again.

"The boys said you didn’t eat and apparently, I was the only person left that could make you, so… eat." she stated matter-of-factly.

Bellamy was still sleepy, and Clarke begun to feel sorry for waking him up. He sighed and took the plate out of her hand and motioned her to get off his lap. She didn’t want to give him a reason to get annoyed again, so she got off and sat down next to him instead. Bellamy moved a bit until his back hit the headboard.

"K, you can use my lap as a seat again." he slurred.

She wasn’t sure if Bellamy could see her facial expression, but she knew she started to blush. The fact that he could joke around in the state that he had been until now showed her that everything was going to be fine _and_ that there was no need for her to be embarrassed… well that was what she thought. A voice in the back of her mind told her not to straddle him again, but she pushed it away and sat in his lap again like before. Bellamy didn’t seem to mind, so why should she?

"Promise me you’re going to finish both slices of pizza _and_ the whole water bottle.” she demanded.

Clarke was able to see him raise one eyebrow thanks to the moonlight that was mostly shining on him, but he did nothing else to protest against what she said. _Good_ , she thought as he started eating.

Minutes passed without them exchanging one word and if Clarke was being truthful with herself, she didn’t mind. The silence between them was as peaceful as it had been on the plane, so there was nothing, from her side, to worry about. She had no idea if Bellamy was comfortable, especially since she was sitting in his lap, but he didn’t show any sign of distress.

As soon as he finished eating, Clarke took the plate out of his hand, before he even realized what was happening. She put it on the nightstand and handed him the water bottle, ignoring the fact that he didn’t finish chewing yet. Bellamy just shook his head but couldn’t keep himself from snorting anyway.

"This isn’t funny, Bellamy. You didn’t eat or drink at all today, so don’t laugh at me for taking care of you. It’s not my fault that you pushed everyone else away." she stated.

He scoffed at that, but he didn’t want to start an argument with her either, so he took the bottle out of Clarke’s hand, opening the cap of it.

"Sorry, never thought someone, and especially not you, would like to be my servant." he tormented.

This time, she was the one raising an eyebrow at him.

"A servant," she shook her head. "That’s not what I’m trying to be and what do you mean by ‘especially not you’, huh?" she narrowed her eyes.

"I mean, I’m definitely not a prince, so there is no need for a servant, but everyone else could be _your_ servant, so _you_ would be the _princess_. Fits better." he nodded his head at her.

Bellamy took a sip from his water, winking at her at the same time. Clarke didn’t know if his mood had been like this all day long, or if it changed only because she was there now. Zeke hadn’t mentioned anything about _how_ Bellamy was doing, so, for sure, she would have expected him to be okay… or he’s just a great actor.

"So, what you’re telling me is…" she lagged.

"That I don’t need someone to take care of me. And, I didn’t expect you to come and feed me." he jabbed a finger at her chest.

Clarke furrowed her brows. "Feed you? I’m not feeding you. You ate that yourself." her forehead creased in annoyance.

"Yeah, I’m in bed while you’re sitting on my lap, handing me food and water. I guess that counts as feeding."

She could see the amusement on his face and she never wanted to hit someone as bad as she wanted to now. It wasn’t her fault that Bellamy didn’t want to listen to the boys and based upon Zeke, she was the only person left that could actually get through him and well… she did.

"That doesn’t mean-" Clarke was cut off as the door opened.

She didn’t miss how Bellamy’s head spun around to look at the person standing in the doorframe, so she turned her head around to take a look, too. The person turned on the light and his eyes widened for a quick moment as he saw how they were positioned.

"Jasper, what do you want?" Bellamy hissed. Jasper just waved them off and took a step inside the room, not questioning what happened a few seconds ago.

"We’re playing some games downstairs and almost half an hour passed since Clarke came up here, so we thought someone should come and look if everything’s fine. I don’t-"

Clarke couldn’t help it but started laughing a little. "Jasper, you’re rambling."

"Right. We just wanted to ask if you like to join us? The vibe is great," he looked at Bellamy and Clarke immediately followed his gaze. Surprisingly, he was pretty relaxed, which was… good. "There’s food and alcohol and yeah as I said we’re playing games so…"

"Alright, we’re coming as soon as the princess thinks of leaving my lap." Bellamy snorted.

"The _princess_? Are you really going to call me like that from now on?" she fussed.

Only then, Bellamy faced Clarke again and he did nothing but shrug his shoulders, a smirk plastered on his face. She squinted her eyes at him in response, ignoring the fact that Jasper was still standing in the doorway, watching them.

After some minutes passed, she could hear Jasper clear his throat which made both of them tear their eyes from each other, looking back at the boy standing, somehow awkwardly, yet slightly amused in front of the door.

"Got it," was all he said, before he turned on his heels and left the room without closing the door or turning the light off again.

As soon as Bellamy started shifting lightly underneath Clarke, he got her attention back. Only then she noticed, that he had been shirtless the whole time and _seriously_? Did he really have to be shirtless most of the time? Sure, it was summer and he didn’t do much before she came upstairs, hell, she didn’t even know _if_ he did _anything_ before, but him wearing not much was just making it harder for her – and therefore for him, too – to stop hooking up.

When that crossed her mind, she remembered that they never talked about what happened on Tuesday, but there was no time to ask him about that anymore, since he finished getting dressed. She didn’t know where he got the tan shirt from while she was sitting on his lap, but _Goddammit_ , he looked _so_ good in it. Well, the real question was when didn’t he… She faced him again and noticed the quizzical look on his face.

"And here I was, thinking you would be strong enough to carry me." Clarke said challengingly. She noticed the smirk that made his way to his lips, but she didn’t have much time to realize what was going on until she had to wrap her arms around his shoulders and tighten her legs around his waist for leverage.

Bellamy had one of his arms wrapped around the small of her back while he grabbed the bottle of water from the bed. It took Clarke a few seconds to notice him holding it close to her, so she could take it.

"What about not being your servant?" She didn’t try to hide the mocking tone in her voice.

"Oh, shut up, Clarke, and take the bottle." he ridiculed.

She snatched the bottle out of his hand and wrapped her arm around his neck again. He ducked down a little to grab the plate, tightening the grip of his arm around her to make sure that he wouldn’t let her fall. After that, he walked to the door, closing it behind him. Clarke thanked God in her mind for nobody being in the hallway right now, but the thought of everyone seeing them like this as soon as they would be downstairs made its way to her mind.

"Wait! We can’t let them see you carrying me like this. They would get suspicious." Bellamy just scoffed at that.

"We’re supposed to play this game, Clarke, remember? Making connections, finding your perfect match? Nobody knows, well Roan does, but he’s irrelevant." he passed his hand through the air in dismissal.

Clarke knew he was right, so she just nodded and nudged his ass with her foot, motioning him to bring them downstairs.

"First worried, now impatient, I see."

She just rolled her eyes at that comment and turned her head to the side so she could see everyone’s faces as soon as they would reach the first floor. It wasn’t like she was scared or anything, but she was kinda curious about how people would react to… well, Bellamy carrying her. Especially, that _Bellamy_ was carrying her. Sure, Octavia acted all normal and didn’t speak of him, she just avoided any conversation with him and so did he, but Clarke knew that if his sister would see them like this, she would probably insult him again, for… doing nothing.

Luckily, Bellamy let her down as soon as they passed the wall that split the kitchen, dining, and living area from the hallway with the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, where they had come from. Clarke spun around and saw Emori, Harper, Jasper and Murphy right across from them, sitting in a circle with all the others on the carpet behind the couch. When Murphy started smirking, Jasper nudging Harper’s hip with his elbow, and Emori making a suggestive face, she knew that they had been caught. Bellamy didn’t seem to mind, since he just took the bottle out of her hand and walked over to the sink to put his plate in.

Clarke thought she should do the same, acting like it was no big deal, so she made her way to the others and sat down next to Emori, who gave her some space next to her. She was now between her and Costia.

"How’s Bellamy doing? Did you leave him upstairs?" Miller questioned.

Even though Clarke wanted to answer him, she didn’t get the time to do so, because Bellamy already made his way to them, sitting down next to Zeke.

"Nah, I’m here. Wouldn’t miss something where alcohol’s involved." he replied sarcastically.

Luna clapped her hands, before she rubbing them together. "Well then," she poured two red cups with beer and got up to hand one beer and one cup to Bellamy and gave Clarke hers, too, before lowering herself next to Sasha again. "We already started playing ‘Never have I ever’ so both of you drink one cup of beer before we continue." she pressed.

Clarke could see Bellamy shrug his shoulders, before he downed his first cup. She could feel Emori’s gaze on her, but she didn’t turn her face towards her to see the smirk that was probably glued to her face. She took her cup and chugged the drink, filling it again right after.

"Alright," Roan started "Never have I ever… sucked a dick." he teased.

Clarke knew exactly why he picked that and she couldn’t do anything other than roll her eyes the moment he spoke. Raven, Octavia, Emori, Harper, Echo and Luna downed a whole cup of beer with her and she was sure that Bellamy didn’t want to think about his sister giving someone head. Nobody was surprised when Miller and Jackson drank one cup, too.

"You guys better not fuck up at the challenges next week, we could have a confirmed perfect match, instead of none like this week." Lexa uttered as she pointed to Miller and Jackson. Echo took that as a chance to add in her own thoughts.

"I swear, if you two don’t go on the gateway date next week, I can’t promise to not slap the shit out of you two."

Miller snorted at that but just shrugged his shoulder. Since Echo was already speaking, Roan decided she was the next person to ask a question, so she did.

"Hm… alright. Never have I ever made out with someone of the same sex."

Clarke, Emori, Lexa, Costia, Echo, Monty, Jasper, Miller, Jackson and Roan took a drink.

"Wow, Monty, didn’t expect you to kiss a guy, who was it?" Wells asked curiously. Monty just laughed a little as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Jasper. We’ve know each other since we were twelve, so at one point, we just thought ‘why not.’" Monty added.

"So, we have best friends here, siblings and what else? Did some of you guys have sex before the show even started?" Luna asked.

Clarke wasn’t sure if the question was asked on purpose or not, but when Raven and Bellamy exchanged a look, she couldn’t help it, but ask. "What? Did you two fuck before?" Raven laughed at that and Bellamy just took a sip from his drink. She wasn’t surprised when Raven took over.

"We met at a party once when I was sixteen and Bellamy, eighteen. It just happened. Once and never again, but I remember that he was good for his age. Don’t know if it counts for hidden talents." She shrugged her shoulders and raised her cup in the same way as Bellamy who laughed lightly. And God, Clarke wished she wouldn’t be able to agree with Raven, that nothing happened between her and Bellamy but… it happened and she didn’t regret it at all.

"Raven, just ask the next question and stop talking about my dumbass brother’s sex skills." Octavia sighed.

Clarke searched for an expression in Octavia’s face and she expected to see disgust, but not… amusement. She had no idea when the younger one started acting all normal again, and she wasn’t surprised to see Bellamy confused, as well. But there was no time to ask Octavia about what changed, since Raven asked the next question.

"Never have I ever given a lap dance." Emori, Harper, Echo and… _Bellamy_ , downed down their cup of beer. _What_ , Clarke thought. This was way too interesting to not ask him why he gave someone a lap dance and most interesting was whom he gave one to. Thank God she wasn’t the only one who thought so. If she could, she would hug Costia.

"You gave someone a lap dance!? Okay, so where’s the music? Give me one…wait, wouldn’t affect me, that’s sad." Costia exhaled.

"Oh, it would definitely affect _me a_ nd many other girls too, Bellamy." Emori said next to Clarke as she wiggled her eyebrows. She could swear that Emori was talking about her, too. Luckily, he didn’t ask who she was talking about and just shrugged it off.

"Another time, maybe. Let’s just continue." he said.

"Well," Wells said. "Just ask us something, Blake."

"Alright," Bellamy took a sip from his drink again before he put it in front of him. "Never have I ever had outdoor sex, semi-public sex, public sex, who cares."

He was the first one to down his drink and Clarke asked herself if he did that on purpose, or if he was dumb, since… well, he did it himself. She pushed the thought back and drank herself together with some of the others, excluding Octavia, Maya, Costia, Sasha, Lincoln, Zeke, Monty, Jasper, Jackson and Wells. Nobody was surprised that they didn’t have sex outside from home, but they didn’t judge them for it either. To each their own.

Miller was the next one who threw a question at the group and to be fair to some people amongst the group, it was a ‘normal’ one.

"Never have I ever been skinny dipping." he admitted.

Surprisingly, only this time Raven, Roan and Jasper had to take a drink.

"This is interesting. I thought more of us would’ve done that." Miller just shrugged his shoulder and nodded to Jasper, motioning him to ask the next question.

"Okay… let me think," He looked up the ceiling and furrowed his brows a little bit. Clarke didn’t know what she should expect but from what she had learned about Jasper, she knew he had a great humour. Well, there were probably a lot of people that would think differently, but she was sure that mostly everyone in this group found him funny. "Never have I ever been to prison." Nobody reached the red cup that was standing in front of them. Nobody, but _Bellamy_.

Everyone was surprised about that fact. Some people’s jaw dropped open, some wrinkled their brows. Others were just confused, and Clarke was all of their reactions put together. Bellamy had been in prison? _For how long_? _What for_? All those questions were running through Clarke’s mind and she really wanted to ask him, but she knew it was something personal, so she didn’t. The only one that didn’t think it was too personal to ask this with a bunch of people around that didn’t know each other until Monday, was Murphy.

"You’ve been in prison?" he asked.

"Yeah," was all Bellamy said. He didn’t look uncomfortable or annoyed at all which only caused Clarke’s lips to move faster than she thought.

"For how long?" His head spun to her almost immediately and she wanted to hurt herself. God, she was so stupid. If she could, she would take it back, only for him to be comfortable again. The sight of him shifting a bit where he was sitting made her feel uncomfortable as well.

"Two years." he revealed.

"What!?" Wells said perplexed, widening his eyes at him. Bellamy couldn’t answer his question, and he didn’t seem to want to either, before Octavia hit the back of Wells’ head and spoke next.

"Don’t you dare ask him? It’s none of your business. Not yours, Wells, not Murphy’s, none of you have to know! Let’s just turn on some music and do something else."

Octavia stood up and went to the soundbar without waiting for anyone to comment on what she just said. Clarke didn’t understand what just happened. The whole week had been weird already, and this situation didn’t make it better either.

Eventually, everyone dropped the topic and stood up, leaving for the toilet or heading to sit on the couch when not outside. It wasn’t quiet for long, since Octavia turned on some music, loud but not too loud, enough to be able to have conversations with each other. In that time, Clarke was thinking about approaching Bellamy and asking him if he was okay, but he was sitting on the couch in a conversation with Monty, so she decided against it and made her way to Raven instead.

The brunette smiled at her as soon as she saw her walking towards Emori and her.

"You good, Clarkey?" Raven questioned.

Clarke shook her head but couldn’t stop herself from laughing a little.

"Don’t call me like that, but yeah, I’m good." Raven chuckled as she handed her a new beer.

"I’ll keep calling you like that as long as I want."

Emori snorted. "I don’t think that name quite fits, though, we need some-"

"Sorry to disturb you ladies, but I would like to steal Emori away from you." Murphy uttered. Clarke raised one eyebrow of hers at Emori, waiting for her respond, but she couldn’t quite hide her smile when she saw her checking Murphy out before answering him.

"Steal me away, John." Emori left soon after that, leaving Clarke alone with Raven, but that wasn’t for long, since she saw Finn making his way to the both of them. She remembered that he wanted to talk to her earlier and to be honest, she still didn’t want to, so she told Raven that she would go to the restroom real quick. Her friend just waved her off, telling her that it was fine, so she made her way to the bathrooms on the first floor.

She didn’t really focus on where she was going and was kinda surprised when she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry," she said, before looking at the person standing in front of her. _Oh_ , just Harper. Said person chuckled lightly and patted Clarke’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry, it’s all good. Where are you going? To the bathroom?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked.

Harper turned her around and shoved her back into the living area. "Bathroom is occupied by Echo and Roan. I don’t think you really want to go there right now. Why don’t you just go and dance a little, hm?" Clarke had no idea why Harper wanted her to dance so badly, but she didn’t mind dancing to two or three songs as long as she would have fun.

Octavia, Emori and Costia were already dancing on the carpet where the whole group was seated twenty minutes ago. Clarke and Harper reached them in seconds. None of them felt embarrassed of dancing in front of the people who were sitting on the couch, just some meters away from them. Raven was talking to Finn across from them with Luna and Sasha next to her. The L of the couch was occupied by Bellamy and Monty, who were still having their conversation. Next to Monty sat Jasper. Lincoln and Murphy were sitting on that side, too, and Clarke was sure that Murphy was just sitting there so he could see Emori dance.

Harper went to the soundbar and chose a new song Clarke didn’t recognize, but that was fine. She found it quite funny when Murphy started yelling around, telling Octavia to stop dimming the light, because he wouldn’t be able to see Emori dance. The younger one didn’t listen to him and dimmed the room even more. The girls were dancing around, enjoying the night as much as possible. That’s what they deserved, after four days of tension around the whole group. 

For Clarke it was one of the best nights in a long time. She didn’t have so much fun in New York, being in bars with Monroe only for the intention of getting laid. _This_ was different. After months of focusing on her studies and all the stuff she had to deal with in New York, she felt good again. _Relaxed_. She forgot how long she was dancing with the others, because it wasn’t important. The moment was, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

_Sweat dripping from my body_

Clarke spun her head around the minute the song started playing.

"Oh my God, that’s it. I need someone to dance with. _Now_."

Even in the dimmed room she could see Harper and Emori exchange a look before they faced her again.

"Well," Harper started. "We know the perfect person you could ask, though."

"Who?" Clarke asked while furrowing a little.

Harper just nodded over to the couch and Clarke followed her gaze. She wasn’t sure who she should expect, but when she noticed whom they were talking, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out before. _Bellamy_.

"No," she said as she faced her friends again. "I won’t ask him."

"If you don’t ask him, I will."

She could see Emori nodding beside Harper. "We saw how he carried you down here, so don’t even try and tell us that you can’t ask _him_. Go, or I’ll get him myself." she threatened.

_Do what you need to do_

The moment she was about to speak again, Harper started moving towards Bellamy and even though Clarke didn’t want to ask him, she couldn’t let Harper embarrass her like that. Clarke grabbed her forearm to stop her and sent her a glare before she made her way to him herself. He didn’t notice her standing in front of him, since he was still in a deep conversation with Monty. But, as soon as she cleared her throat, both of them turned their heads to her.

"Sorry to disturb your conversation, but if it’s okay with you, Monty, I would like to take Bellamy away from you. For… one song." Monty just smiled at her as he got up.

"Sure, don’t worry Clarke, he’s all yours." With that, Monty left towards the kitchen.

Clarke faced Bellamy again and even in the dark she was able to see the confused look on his face.

"What’s up?" he asked.

"I want to dance with you,” Bellamy snorted at that. "No really, I want you to get your ass up from that couch and come dance with me."

He raised an eyebrow at her and put his beer onto the floor. "I don’t dance, Clarke."

"Yes, you do. _Now_."

She could hear him let out a sigh, but he stood up anyway. _Great_ , she thought as she took his hand and pulled him with her a bit further away from everyone. She noticed that almost everyone of the group was dancing right now, alone or in pairs, and if she was being honest it made her feel more comfortable and _confident_.

Clarke turned around and took Bellamy’s hands, placing them on her hips before she pressed her back against his chest. Fortunately, she’d decided to wear just a loose shirt and a pair of leggings, so it wouldn’t be that hard for her to grind against Bellamy. Even though he was wearing some sweatpants, _like always_ , she would try her best to feel him against her.

_If we’re down just maybe, we dance like we’re making babies, as soon as our song comes on_

As soon as the second verse started, Clarke begun swaying her hips from side to side as she placed her hands on top of his, making Bellamy grip her hips harder. She was moving against him, to the rhythm of the beat, slow but slightly intense. In contrast to her, Bellamy wasn’t moving against her too much. _It wasn’t enough_. Clarke wanted more of him, wanted _him_ to _guide her_. She had no idea why he was holding back, but that didn’t change the fact that she wanted nothing else than being close to him in this moment. His hands on her body, his breath against her neck, _God_ , even his dick against her ass. No. She needed more. She needed _him_.

_I see a little faded, you want to get crazy, out on this floor_

"Bellamy…" she breathed. He understood her almost immediately and wrapped his arm around her waist, pushing her harder against him. After that, he took her arm and placed her hand in his own neck. _Fuck_ , Clarke thought as he started rolling his hips against her ass. She had to change her movements a little bit, from swaying side to side to grinding lightly against him. There was no need to be in a rush and the best part of the song was yet to come. She was amazed by how in sync they were, moving correctly to the beat of the music. _I don’t dance_ , he said. Clarke shook her head before she laid it on his shoulder. _Sure, he doesn’t_.

_It’s really late, you’re getting closer and the lights are off_

The beat changed and so did their movements. They went back to swaying against each other from side to side, but this time it was more intense.

_Your body’s in sync to the beat of my heart_

The air grew hotter around them with every move they made. Clarke’s hand made its way into Bellamy’s hair while his hand slid his hand down to her sex, pressing her ass harder against his crotch. She could hear him take a sharp breath against her ear and she couldn’t help it but moaned slightly when she felt him against her. The blonde closed her eyes and kept dancing with him.

_And I can feel your nature rising while I whine on you. Let’s dance like we’re making love_

Clarke didn’t know when she decided to do that next, but the minute the beat changed again, she bend forward, hands on her knees and begun whining and circling her ass right against Bellamy’s shaft. His hands found her hips again, before he pushed her closer against him, guiding her movements to the beat of the song. Clarke never danced like this before and if she was to be honest, she didn’t regret it, because the first time would stay in her mind forever. Bellamy was good, _so_ good. She didn’t want to think of how it would be if he would give her a lap dance.

_Let’s dance like we’re making love_

The sudden turn of events surprised Clarke a little bit as she found herself facing Bellamy. She didn’t really mind dancing like this either, chests pressed against each other, so she just wrapped both of her arms around his neck, but only for some seconds. The urge of touching him was way too strong for keeping her hands from him, so she ran her hands down his shoulders and arms and slipped them under his shirt, moving her hands up and down his chest. In response, Bellamy placed his hands on her ass, pressing her against him again.

_Closer than before, dance like no one’s watching you and I_

Out of nowhere Clarke was pinned against the wall by the older one. There had been no time for her to ask him what he was planning to do, and she didn’t need to, because she found out seconds later when he pressed his lips against hers aggressively. It didn’t take her long to kiss him back. Hungrily. Sloppily. Tongues flattering against each other. By the way they were kissing, Clarke assured that as soon as the song would end, everyone who wasn’t far away from them could hear them making out, by the sounds they were making.

_Let’s dance like we’re making love_

Clearly, Bellamy didn’t care about the possibility of getting seen by the others, since he pushed Clarke’s legs open with his, only to rub his thigh against her pussy. _Fuck it_. She lifted one leg and wrapped it around his waist, so she could grind better against his thigh. Clarke never thought that dancing would work her up like that. She knew she was wet, probably so wet that she would leave a wet spot on Bellamy’s pants, but right now, that wasn’t her problem. The only thing she could think off right now was his thigh against her cunt, his aroused cock brushing against her thigh, his lips against hers and his tongue in her mouth. They shouldn’t be doing this, they should stop. She knew it and he for sure knew it, too, but there was no way she would stop this now. And even though it should be the last thing she should think about, she wanted him. _She wanted him inside her_.

_Know you wanna roll with a good girl, do it big, do it all for a good girl, one time_

Abruptly, Clarke stopped kissing him and put her leg back down on the floor before she placed her hands on Bellamy’s chest and shoved him away a little bit. It was too dark for her to see what kind of expression he had on his face, but she didn’t need it anyway.

"What," he breathed out. She didn’t answer him by raising her voice, but motioned him to listen to the music. _The song changed_. They had forgotten time and place.

Clarke looked over his shoulder, trying to figure out if _anyone_ saw what they just did. From where she was standing, she could see Monty, Jasper, Maya and Sasha having a conversation in the kitchen, so they probably didn’t see anything. Looking to the living area, she noticed Emori and Murphy, still dancing together. _Good_ , they didn’t see them either. But, when her eyes swept to the couch, she met Raven’s gaze for a second, before the brunette turned her head around to face Harper and Miller again. _Fuck_. They definitely saw everything.

As soon as Bellamy took a step backwards, her attention was on him again. He fixed his shirt and even tried to bring his hair back to normal, which made her laugh slightly because there wasn’t much change. She did the same seconds later, fixing her shirt and putting her hair into a ponytail with the scrunchy that she’d put around her wrist earlier.

Neither Clarke nor Bellamy made a move to leave. She could feel his gaze on her, even though it was still as dark as it had been before, and if he would keep looking at her, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from getting on her knees to suck him off.

"Well… _I don’t dance_ , huh?" she scoffed.

She could hear him let out a snort before he went to lean against the wall next to her.

"Yeah, I don’t dance but that doesn’t mean I can’t." he reasoned.

Clarke nodded and nudged his arm with her shoulder. He turned his head to her and motioned that she should start speaking.

"I think I’m going to bed," she said as she turned to face him.

"Sure, go, but don’t dream about me." Now it was her time to snort. She hit his arm but smiled to herself anyway as she made her way upstairs.

There weren’t a lot of people downstairs anymore, so she figured that others thought it was time to call it a night, too. When she arrived on the second floor, she headed to the room she was sharing with the traitors. She knew Harper and Emori insisted on her dancing with Bellamy for a reason, but if she was being honest to herself, she didn’t think they did something wrong. No, wait. They did. Because of them, she was still wet and horny, yet she had to go and take a shower, now. Yeah, _traitors_.

Just before she was about to enter the bedroom, she saw Raven, Harper and Miller entering the camera room. She stopped in her tracks and frowned lightly. _What the hell_? She really wanted to know what they were about to tell the viewers, but she was way too tired and horny to give a fuck. Clarke entered the room and grabbed everything she needed for her shower and went to the bathroom. The night could’ve ended differently, but a cold shower did it, too.

# # # # # # # # # #

_ Camera room _ _– Gossip Gang (Raven, Harper, Miller)_

Miller was sitting in the middle of the couch, Raven to his left and Harper to his right. Raven was the first one to speak, a smirk making its way on her face.

_"So, we’re the first members of the ‘Gossip Gang’."_

_"Oh yes we are,"_ Miller added. _"But we’re not the ‘Gossip Gang’ for the whole group. Nah, there’s not enough to gossip about other people in this house."_

Raven and Miller high-fived and Harper just chuckled, before she leaned forward and pointed her finger into the camera.

_"Listen. We’re only gossiping about Bellarke, alright?"_

_"You have to explain who’s Bellarke, Harper!"_ Raven uttered.

Miller just rolled his eyes next to her and hit the back of her head. _"Come on, as if the viewers aren’t smart enough."_ Harper nodded and this time Miller high-fived with her. Raven just shook her head and smiled into the camera.

_"Alright, true. Anyway, we’ll feed you with gossip every week, guys. Our eyes and ears are open."_

_"Fuck. They’re going to hate us so much."_ Harper said while laughing.

Miller and Raven joined her soon afterwards. It took them a few minutes to get back to normal and they decided to end their message right there. Raven and Harper were almost out of the room, when Miller looked back into the camera.

 _"Guys, seriously. This is going to be fun. Peace out."_ He turned off the camera and all of them headed out.

Yeah, it was going to be fun.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 1, Day 6 – Saturday. Los Angeles. 3.12 am.

Bellamy couldn’t believe that he was awake. He had no idea what time it was, but the moment he registered the deep rumble coming from his abdomen, he didn’t really care. _So that_ _are the consequences of not eating for a whole day, great_. He begrudgingly rolled out of the bed, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and putting his glasses on. Before heading downstairs, he turned to take a look at Miller, who was thankfully still sleeping. He made his way to the kitchen as quiet as possible, so he wouldn’t wake anyone.

The first thing he did was turn on the light, but only bright enough for him to see what he was doing before opening the fridge and looking for something to eat. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much in it to prepare a full meal and if he was being honest, he didn’t want to start cooking one. He grabbed the box filled with eggs out of the fridge and closed the door. _An omelette would be enough_.

It didn’t take him long to find all the ingredients he needed, finishing up his food and making his way to the couch. He sat down and started eating as he thought about the past days. There was nothing he liked about fighting with Octavia over the little things. Well… you couldn’t say that what happened between him and Maya was a ‘little thing’, but out of everyone he thought that she would understand and perhaps also support him.

He sighed. The whole situation turned out much worse than he thought it would, but somehow Maya wasn’t mad at him anymore. She always smiled at him, even if only a little bit, when their eyes met and talked normally to him when they found themselves in the same group of people. Yeah, in comparison to Octavia, she wasn’t mad anymore.

His sister though… okay, there was something he didn’t understand, and it bugged him, ever since they had stopped playing ‘Never have I ever’. He didn’t expect her to stand up for him in front of everyone after the fight they had, yet she did and he wanted to thank her for that, but they didn’t get to talk afterwards and well, he didn’t even know if she wanted to talk to him. Eventually, he had to make a move towards her, apologizing for the things he yelled at her for. Yes, he decided. He would go up to her in the morning and apologize.

"…Bellamy?"

He spun his head around, finding Clarke standing next to the kitchen island in nothing but a grey shirt that was definitely too big for her and matching fuzzy socks. He tried not to ask himself if she was wearing something underneath and if she was, _what_ it was. He shook his head lightly, focusing on why she was downstairs, anyway. Since she was holding a glass of water in her hand, he believed that she came downstairs to drink something. Well, only makes sense.

"You alright," she asked him as she made her way to him. Only then he figured, that he didn’t answer her yet.

"Yeah, just woke up because I was hungry, so I made myself something. What about you?"

Clarke sat down next to him and he saw her staring at the plate in his lap. For a moment, he thought that she didn’t listen to him, but then she looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders.

"Just thirsty," she took the plate and fork out of his lap and begun eating his omelette.

Bellamy rolled his eyes but leaned back against the couch.

"I thought you were just thirsty," he pointed out. The blonde turned around to him and cocked her head to the side while raising an eyebrow.

"It’s not my fault that you haven’t really eaten yesterday. Other than that, I couldn’t help it. It looks too good to not eat it."

Bellamy waved her off, motioning her to finish his food. He would survive until it was breakfast time, anyway, if he would get up and go back to bed. He glanced at the girl next to him for a moment, taking in what he was seeing. The way she was sitting on the couch wasn’t good for her, but surely good for him. He had to ask himself if she was sitting like this on purpose: legs spread apart with one raised up. She had to know that he could see the light blue lacy v-string she was wearing under her shirt and either she didn’t seem to care, or she wanted him to see it. He brought himself to look back in her face and luckily, she had her eyes fixed on the plate instead of him.

Just as he exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding, her eyes snapped up to meet his. They kept looking at each other for a few seconds until his eyes drifted back down to the underwear she was wearing. He licked his lips at the sight of it. He wanted to return his attention to her eyes again, but as soon as they made it to her face once more, his stare fell upon her lip since she was biting the lower one as she swept her eyes over his naked chest. He followed her gaze down to his sweatpants and had to fight back the smirk that was making its way to his lips. With the intention of keeping her fixed stare on his dick, he adjusted it as he turned his head towards her, watching how her blue eyes turned into a much darker shade.

Before Bellamy even realized what was happening, Clarke pushed the plate off her lap onto the couch as fast as possible, straddling him with her knees on either side of his legs and collided her lips with his own.

They kissed just like they did hours ago, in a messy and hurried fashion. Tongues flickering against each other, like a growing flame, growling and moaning into each other’s mouth. He couldn’t think of the last time he kissed someone this good with this much fervour.

Bellamy wasn’t surprised by how much Clarke pressed her cunt directly against his cock, grinding fast against him. And to be honest, he really didn’t care right now. He had waited long enough for getting his cock inside her again, hearing the moans she frequently made when he hit _that_ spot inside her.

He wrapped his arm under the back of her thighs and stood up, never breaking the kiss they were sharing. Clarke folded her arms around his neck and made sure to tighten her legs around his waist for support. It wasn’t the first time that he carried her like this, but it was different now. They were making out, probably like some horny teenagers, but there was no reason for Bellamy to care. He was hard, Clarke was definitely soaking wet, and he couldn’t think of anything but fucking her right now. Well, that’s wrong, there was something else that he really wanted to do.

 _Enough_ , Bellamy thought. They weren’t in a rush, but he wanted to taste her so badly, so he turned on his heels and laid her on the couch with him on top of her, pushing the plate from it. The sound of it crashing on the floor didn’t stop them from kissing. It didn’t matter because everything that was important at this moment was them. Clarke was all he wanted and Bellamy was all Clarke wanted. That’s it. Nothing else mattered.

When Clarke shoved Bellamy back, he thought he did something wrong but as soon as she sat up, took off her shirt, and threw it on the floor, he understood. His eyes dropped immediately to her tits and, _Jesus_ , he could swear, he never saw tits like this. Big, round, beautiful. He bet her skin would feel amazing against his lips. Her nipples were already perked and pointed. Bellamy had to resist the urge to flick his tongue against the pebbled buds, but that was harder than he thought as he found himself cupping each breast in one of his hands. He squeezed the right one while he leaned forward and teased his tongue around her left nipple. He pushed her back onto the cushions as he begun sucking her nipple and used his thumb and index finger to play with the other.

Clarke let out one of the noises she had made back in the restroom of the airplane while he was pressing his thumb against her clit, sucking hard on her collarbone. _God_ , he missed that. He missed the smell of her, the way her skin felt against his lips, _her lips_ , the sounds she made, how her eyes would start fluttering the moment he filled her up… He missed _her_ and if anyone else would be able to have sex with this incredible woman underneath him, they would understand, even though the thought of someone else pleasuring her made his stomach churn.

He didn’t realize that he had stopped pleasuring Clarke before she pulled on his hair a little bit, making him meet her eyes.

"What’s up?" she questioned in between breaths. He shook his head and placed a soft kiss on her breast, never breaking eye contact.

"Nothing," he replied as a smirk made its way onto his lips. "I just really want to eat you out."

He could hear her gasp a little before she pushed him off her again and took her string off in record time. She laid back on her back and spread her legs, giving him a good look at her pussy. He licked his lips before he laid down flat on his stomach, hooking his arms under her knees and pulling her closer to his face. Clarke shrieked lightly, clearly surprised by how rough he pulled her to him. He couldn’t help it and placed one of her legs on his shoulder.

Bellamy was about to duck his head between her legs, but she stopped him by pulling him back by his hair.

"Don’t you want to take your glasses off," she begged. He shook his head again and placed a kiss on her inner thigh before looking up to her, smirk still sprawled across his face.

"Nah," he looked at her cunt again then back up to her. "I need to be able to see my meal." She moaned in response and pulled even harder on his hair. "So, let me eat." he demanded.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, before he _finally_ settled his head in between her legs. Well, _fuck_ , he knew that she would be wet already, soaking even, but the way her cunt was covered with her own juice just by what _he_ did to her was… breathtaking. He wanted to taste her so badly and luckily, he was able to do so seconds later.

The moment he thumbed her open, he leaned down to lick a fat swipe of her arousal from her cunt to her clit. Clarke used her leg that was placed on his shoulder to push his head closer. _Impatient_. _Bossy_. He then blew against her cunt a little but only to make her shiver slightly underneath her. He was going to make her quiver, shake, scream out his name as loud as possible, even if it would wake up some of the other participants. There was no way he wouldn’t make her feel good, pleasure her the way she needed to be pleasured. Last time, it had been about him. This time, it would be about her, _again_. But, that was fine by him. He loved going down on women and he couldn’t wait to fuck her with his tongue, but he wanted this to last, so he started off easy.

Bellamy slid his index finger between her folds and moved it up and down slowly, capturing her wetness with it as he looked up to find her already looking down at him. Clarke was biting her lip and hold herself up onto her elbows to take a better look at what he was doing. He brought his finger to his mouth and sucked on it a little bit, groaned around it and made sure to never break eye contact with her. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled his finger out of his mouth only to use it herself, sliding it between her labia again. He thought that she was desperate, wanted to feel something against her, _inside_ her, but he was wrong, _so_ wrong.

Clarke pulled his wrist away and brought his finger up to her mouth to suck on it and taste herself. Well, fuck, he didn’t expect that. The way she sucked on his finger turned on even more. She was mimicking how she sucked him off four days ago, and if she would keep doing this while staring back into his eyes, he would surely lose his mind. He pulled the digit out of her mouth and grabbed her hips with both hands, tightened the grip and brushing his lips against her clit before he settled his tongue right on it and gave her some fast lashes. There was no reason for him to hold back anymore. The thought of her quivering underneath him, screaming and crying out because of him made it impossible for him to take it slow. Clarke didn’t seem to mind either as she hardened her hold on his hair and reclined onto her back again, arching it so much that he had to press her back down into the cushions.

"Fingers, Bellamy," she breathed out. "I need your fingers, _please_."

As much as he wanted to tease her a little bit more, he could understand, _God_ , sure he could. She wasn’t the only one who wanted this so badly and he knew they would be lying if they tried to deny it.

"Easy, princess. How many do you want? One? Two? Three?" When he said three she nodded heavily while biting her lower lip. A habit of hers that made him fight the urge of sucking on it. "Three it is."

Bellamy wet his fingers with his tongue before he slid his index and middle finger slowly inside her, scissoring his way deep inside her. Two would be enough for the start, but he would get his third finger inside her soon enough. By the noises Clarke made, she wasn’t going to complain or try to convince him otherwise. But, it wasn’t enough for him, so he put his mouth on her clit and starting sucking at it as he increased the pace of his fingers.

"Yes, oh God, _yes_ ," she moaned and hardened the grip in his hair. He looked up to her only to find the blonde with her eyes closed, head laying on the pillows. All of this, because of him. And yet, he wasn’t satisfied, so he picked up his pace and got faster, making Clarke whimper and rock down on his fingers. _Yeah_ , he thought, _that was better… but still not good enough_.

"Clarke, look at me," he commanded.

She held herself up onto her elbows again, opened her eyes and immediately met his. He groaned by the sight of her and added a third finger, going after her wish, and moved them faster again, got deeper, and by the way she started clenching around him, he knew it wouldn’t take her long to come. _God_ , all of this was such a turn on, he could only imagine how much pre-cum was already gathered on his cock.

Clarke surprised him the moment she took his hand and pulled his wet fingers out of her core. He knew that the look on his face mirrored his confusement whereupon she just smirked lightly and began licking her own juice off them.

"Again? Do you like doing that?" he asked, only getting a nod as response.

He ducked his head in between her legs again and started making out with her pussy: kissing, licking, sucking her, just giving his all, so she could come undone on his face. There was no way his chin or nose, even his glasses, weren’t glistering with her arousal, but he didn’t mind, he just kept eating her out like it was the last meal on earth. And Clarke whimpered, pulled his fingers out of her mouth because she couldn’t focus anymore. She used her leg that was wrapped around his shoulder to press his face even more against her, but that didn’t make her stop quivering underneath him. And if he was being honest, he didn’t know how nobody had heard them and come down yet, since Clarke didn’t try to stay quiet. But he didn’t mind either.

Still, he had another goal. She _had_ to come, because he couldn’t wait any longer, so he thumbed her open a bit further and put his tongue into her core, fucking her with it. As soon as he was sure that he could continue sticking his tongue in and out of her cunt, he let go and used his thumb to rub her clit relentlessly. And that did it.

Clarke came hard all over his tongue and cried out loudly as she kept grinding her hips against face. Bellamy groaned into her as she does, but didn’t pull his head away, instead he licked her clean, still rubbing her clit. Clarke actually had to sit up and push him away to make him stop. He sat up, too, smirking wolfishly at her as he took of his glasses and cleaned them with his sweatpants.

"Well," he started while he turned around to her and ran a hand through his hair. "That was delicious. I guess I’m not hungry anymore."

A second later, Clarke slapped his arm with her hand.

"Shut up," she tugged on his pants as she looked him in the eyes, licking her lips one time before she kept going. "Take these off." He raised an eyebrow at her and slid his hand into his pants, stroking himself.

"You want it?" he asked her defiantly. She nodded and bit her lip again, he wondered how she wasn’t bleeding. "Then get it." he finished smugly.

She reacted immediately and got off the couch only to sink onto her knees in front of him. Only then, he noticed that she was still wearing her fuzzy socks, but surprisingly enough, the sight of her being naked but wearing those socks was kinda hot.

"Ass up," she demanded.

 _Well, that was hot, too_. He obeyed and lifted his hips from the couch, so she could take off his sweatpants. As soon as they were off him, she threw them behind her back and wrapped her fist around his length and as he expected, his dick was glistered with pre-cum. She didn’t waste time and pumped the base of him as she took the tip of his shaft in her mouth, flicking her tongue around the slit of it.

As much as Bellamy wanted her to keep going, they didn’t know what time it was and he really wanted the rest of himself inside her, fucking her until she couldn’t remember her name anymore. So he pulled her up from her knees and placed a hand on her neck to make her meet him halfway for a sloppy kiss. Clarke moaned into his mouth by the taste of herself on his tongue, but straddled him at the same time, hand still wrapped around his dick. She almost sank down on him, but he stopped her, holding onto her hips and pulling his head away.

"I don’t have a condom-"

"It’s fine," she cut him off. "I’m clean and I’m on the pill. If you’re clean just- _fuck yes_!"

That had been everything she was able to say before he slapped her hand away from his cock and wrapped his own hand around it, so he was able to sink her down on him himself. He placed her hands on his shoulders and held onto her hips seconds later.

"Come on, Clarke, ride my dick." he urged her.

Clarke obeyed immediately as she slowly started moving up, until only his head was buried inside her, and down, making sure that she took all of his cock into herself. The way she did that in a slow pace made him release a low growl.

"Fuck, wait. Do that again," he coaxed.

She raised an eyebrow at him and went all the way up and sank down on him again, but this time she didn’t waste time to get him back inside her, she just dropped herself onto him roughly, causing them to groan simultaneously.

Bellamy held her in place for a moment, giving her time to adjust to his size. The moment she gave him a sign to tell him that she was ready, he let loose a bit and bucked his hips up, to show her that she should start moving. He didn’t need to tell her that a second time because she already began jumping him, faster and faster after every time she had his full length inside her again. He had no idea where to look. There was her face that he could look at, viewing all the sex faces she made and, of course, how she bit her lip. But, the sight of her boobs bouncing up and down was fucking incredible, yet, there was the way his cock showed for a second only to disappear back inside her wet and steaming cunt.

"Uh… fuck, Bellamy," she moaned. He could only imagine how the feeling of his cock inside her made _her_ feel, but by the way she was moaning, not even trying to keep herself quiet, he knew that she liked it; That it felt as incredible for her as it felt for him; The way her walls squeezed around his length, keeping him close to her.

"God, yes. Fuck, Clarke, just like that." There was nothing else he could say. Sex with Clarke was amazing, breathtaking, and being inside her without anything between them, made it a thousand times better.

"Bellamy…," she breathed out, desperate for air, but also desperate for _more_. "Bellamy, I need…" she couldn’t end the sentence.

He could understand. The air around them was thick, their bodies covered with sweat and the sounds of their moans and groans filled the living area. There was no way the others weren’t able to hear them, they definitely could, but _God_ , he didn’t care. He could do this all night, fucking Clarke in every position that crossed his mind. Him on top, her on her knees and hands, while they were standing, against the wall, he didn’t really care and the thought of being able to do this again and again, even if they shouldn’t, made him ram his cock inside her, hitting her g-spot one time.

" _Bellamy_ ," she cried out loudly.

She placed one of her hands on his chest and stopped moving as she tried to catch her breath before she looked him straight in the eyes. They screamed out in desire, lust and something he couldn’t quite identify.

"Bellamy…" she said again and this time he answered.

"Yeah," he breathed out, waiting for what she needed to tell him so desperately that she stopped riding his dick.

"I want you to fuck me."

"Yeah?" He pushed a strand of her out of her face and put it behind her ear. "You want me to fuck you?" he repeated.

"Yeah," she responded, nodding her head lightly as she licked her lower lip, only to bite it again. This time, he used his thumb to pull her lip out of her grip. "I want you to fuck me sore."

Well, he wouldn’t disobey. He shifted back a little bit, so he was against the back cushion. Clarke placed her hands on his shoulders for weight before she moved her hips a little bit, motioning him to get going and just fuck her, before she stopped moving them again.

"Your wish is my command, princess." Bellamy couldn’t wait any longer and thrusted inside her, _hard_ , _deep_ , _always_ hitting that one spot inside her that made her cry out astonishingly. And even now, she screamed like that, covering the sounds of their bodies slapping against each other. There was no way he could even hear himself groan, the room was filled with _her_ screams. Now he had been sure that people in the house would hear them and wake up because of them, but he pushed the little voice that told him to stop having sex with Clarke and finally start playing the game, in the back of his head away and kept jackhammering his hips into her.

Clarke was digging her fingernails into his shoulders and he knew that he would find some marks there in the morning. But why would he care? This only showed him how phenomenal the sex had been and that stopping here wasn’t an option.

Bellamy could feel Clarke clenching harder around him, crying out louder and louder with every thrust he made and he really had to ask himself how that was even possible. This woman was clearly a miracle. He knew he was close himself, he knew it and soon Clarke would walk around with his come inside her. _Fuck_ , he thought before he slid down his hand to her clit and began rubbing her, trying to mimic the way he was fucking into her.

" _Oh God, yes. Fuck, I’m close, I’m- Bellamy!_ " The moment she screamed out his name he knew it was over, not only for her, but also for him.

As she came, _hard_ , clenching around him, her head fell on his shoulder and she tried to catch her breath. Four thrusts later, Bellamy followed with his orgasm and released his semen inside her. He stopped moving abruptly and tried to catch his breath, too, as he closed his eyes, focusing on coming back to earth.

He didn’t know how long there were sitting there, him still inside her, her still on top of him, but when he turned his head to look out of the window, it was already starting to get bright outside. _Jesus_ , how long did they have sex?

"Clarke?" No answer.

Bellamy hit his head against the armrest of the couch and closed his eyes again. He didn’t have a problem with her falling asleep like this, he could only imagine how the sex had been for her, so when he opened his eyes again, he looked around the living area, searching for a blanket. When he found one at the end of the sectional, he wrapped his arm around Clarke and stood up, only to grab the blanket and lay down on the L with her. He slid out of her and pulled the blanket over them, so they were covered enough if someone should come downstairs before they would wake up. He laid down on his back and pulled her closer to him, laying her head on his chest and kept his arm around her waist. The last thing he remembered before he fell asleep himself was her kissing his chest softly and murmuring ‘good night, Bell’ against his skin.

 _Yeah_ , he thought, _good night, princess_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i guess it's time for me to ask you if you enjoyed today's chapter right?  
> any idea of what will happen next? will they stop hooking up or nah?  
> and last but not least, do you guys want me to keep up with posting once a week or should i go up to twice?
> 
> leave some comments down below, i would like to read some of your thoughts!  
> much love xox


	5. Chapter 5

6.34 am.

Clarke had no idea what time it was the moment she woke up, but there was a spot on the wall across from where she was lying that was formed by the light coming from the window in the room she was in. She lifted her head from the pillow, only to find that where her head had been lying was in fact not a pillow. The blonde moved a bit, trying to get a little more comfortable, but instead she rubbed herself against a leg. _What the hell_ , she thought.

She got up with her torso and looked down at the person that was laying underneath her. Oh, it was just Bellamy. _Oh_. Even though her eyes widened slightly, she couldn’t contain the smile that made its way to her face.

It had been around 3 am when she came downstairs only to get something to drink. She was surprised, finding Bellamy on the couch, eating an omelette. Who eats an omelette at three in the morning? She shook her head lightly and laid her it back on his chest, her hand right next to her face.

Clarke remembered how he drifted his eyes down, between her legs while he licked his lips so seductively. Just the thought of it alone made her want to press her thighs together, but right now, his leg was in the way. She was trying to stop thinking about what happened some hours ago, but she couldn’t. The memories of his tongue on her clit, his fingers inside her and his lips sucking her nipple were too strong to just stop thinking about it altogether. She was eaten out so often in the past, yet nobody could top the things Bellamy could do with his mouth. But that wasn’t the only thing he was good at.

If Clarke was being honest with herself, she didn’t even know where to start. Raven had been right about his hidden talents, because, _dammit_ , he did her so good last night; Fucking her sore, just like she wanted.

She wanted to regret this, all of this; from the dancing part to lying with him now, still naked, only covered by a thin blanket and at God knows what time. The way she was screaming because of him… she couldn’t even be ashamed. She couldn’t feel bad about most likely having woken up some of the other participants. _Ugh_ , there was no way anyone could make her feel better than him and that was the problem. They. Should. Stop. Hooking. Up.

Right. They wouldn’t and Clarke knew that herself, because every time she would see him wearing those stupid glasses on his face, she would think of his dumbass line: ‘ _I need to be able to see my meal_ ’. When he would be walking around the house, shirtless and in nothing but his annoying sweatpants, she would think of how all of that started, days ago, on the airplane with his infuriating huge cock and today, with how he needed to adjust it when she was checking him out. _God_ , she _hated_ him.

Clarke groaned and swept her eyes around the living area, only to see the broken plate and rest of the omelette on the floor. She snorted to herself, just the sight of it showed her how wild and hungry they had been for each other. When was the last time she had been that turned on by a person? Bellamy would definitely turn her into a sex addict if he would keep being such a fucking sex God.

Thankfully, him starting to shift underneath her made her stop reflecting any further. He probably thought she was still asleep by how gently he brushed the hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She got off him and laid down on her side, placing her arm underneath her head and looked at him, smiling slightly. Bellamy blinked a few times, then turned around to face her, returning her smile.

‘‘Hey,’’ Clarke said softer than she wanted it to be.

Bellamy closed his eyes again and she thought that this was her moment. Clarke scooted a bit closer and took his glasses off, since he fell asleep with them still on. She turned on her back for a second to place them next to her, before turning back to face him. He was already looking at her, his hair falling into his eyes. Clarke didn’t think his hair could be messier than it already was in his normal state, but she was wrong. And, she couldn’t deny that a sleepy Bellamy was kind of adorable.

‘‘Hey,’’ he slurred back.

Clarke couldn’t stop herself from laughing slightly. Yeah, he was adorable, indeed.

‘‘You alright?’’ She questioned.

‘‘Mhm.’’

She smiled a little bit at the sight of him trying to keep his eyes open. The blonde got closer and pushed his hair out of his eyes, just as gently as he did minutes ago. The moment she pulled her hand away, Bellamy laid her on her back with him on top and placed his head in the crook her neck. At first Clarke had been surprised, but she was okay with it seconds later. It was probably way too early to mind anyway and him growling in her neck just showed her how tired he was. So, she didn’t make any effort to move away.

The way they were lying now wasn’t all that comfortable, but it was fine. One of her legs was lying flat on the couch, while the other was raised up. Bellamy was lying on his stomach, situated between her legs, but he was holding himself up on his elbows so he wouldn’t crash her. Luckily, she was able to run her hand through his hair over and over again and since he wasn’t complaining, she didn’t stop doing so.

If Clarke was being truthful with herself, she could stay like this all day long. It was quiet around them, no drama, no tension between everyone, just them in the moment of sunrise. She knew that it was stupid to even think of it. Her perfect match was currently sleeping in a room upstairs and she was here, lying on the couch after having sex with Bellamy. She sighed. If she wasn’t going to get to know other people soon, she would ruin the game for everyone.

‘‘Are _you_ alright, though?’’

Clarke turned her attention back to Bellamy who was now right above her, looking down at her with a quizzed look on his face. He probably heard her sigh, but she didn’t want him to worry about her and her problems, so she just shook her head and sent him a light smile.

‘‘I’m fine, just tired and I should take a shower.’’ she answered.

‘‘So,’’ he raised one eyebrow at her. ‘‘What you’re telling me is to get off you?’’

She shook her head again. ‘‘No,’’ she replied before she placing her hand on the back of his neck and pulling him down to her. ‘‘I don’t want you to get off me.’’ Clarke whispered before she lifted her head up a little bit, so she could reach for his lips.

Fortunately, he understood and met her halfway for a quick peck on the lips. Bellamy pulled away after that, but Clarke wasn’t done yet, so she brought his lips back to hers and kissed him for real this time, yet it was softer than the kisses they shared earlier in the night.

They didn’t kiss for long, just for a few seconds, then Clarke laid her head back down onto the pillow. But as soon as she closed her eyes, almost falling asleep again, she could feel Bellamy’s lips return to hers, and to be honest, who could resist kissing him anyway? Not that she wanted to think about anyone kissing him, but, well… she had no right to claim him as hers so she just pushed the thought to the back of her mind and kissed him back.

Their second kiss didn’t last any longer than their first one, but it was definitely lazier and softer than the previous one. Two kisses turned into three. They switched positions this time, her on top of him with Bellamy underneath, caressing her back up and down gently. The only thing that didn’t change was the way they were kissing. It was still a lazy and slow kiss, the two just enjoying being close to one another.

Actually, Clarke wanted to keep kissing him, but he pushed her away from him, lightly enough so he wouldn’t hurt her and sat up, running his hand through his hair before he put his glasses back on. She didn’t notice that she was smiling the whole time until he looked back at her and crocked his head to the side. The blonde just shrugged her shoulders and got up from the couch, not hiding her naked body from him as she reached down to the floor to grab her string and shirt.

She could hear Bellamy getting off the couch, too, while she was putting her shirt on again. Only then did she notice she wasn’t wearing anything other than her fuzzy socks… Well, he didn’t seem to mind while they were fucking, so she didn’t put much thought into it.

When Clarke turned around to face him again, he was wearing both his briefs and pants and was currently folding the blanket. _God_ , how could one man be this hot and attractive but also an adorable dork at the same time?

Clarke used the time to walk to the kitchen and grab a small dustpan before she scooted back to the couch and cleaned up the sharp pieces of the plate and the rest of the omelette. She got up as soon as the floor was clear again and went back to the kitchen to throw everything in the bin.

The blonde didn’t miss how Bellamy leaned against the counter next to her, so that as soon as she put the shovel back in place she turned to face him.

‘‘You want to take a shower now?’’

His voice was still a bit raspy from his sleep and if Clarke was fully awake, it definitely would’ve turned her on, but, a shower was what she wanted and needed, so she nodded at him and turned on her heels, walking upstairs as quietly as possible.

Bellamy followed her all the way to her room. She didn’t understand why, but wouldn’t say anything either. Just as she was about to open the door to the room, he laid his hand on top of hers, stopping her from entering. Clarke turned her head to him, confusion written all over her face.

‘‘What?’’ She whispered.

‘‘You really want to go in there now,’’ he asked her, raising an eyebrow. ‘‘Octavia wakes up early in the mornings, so she’s probably already awake. I wouldn’t go in there if I was you.’’ He responded as quietly as she was talking to him before. Clarke took a look at the door then turned around to fully face him.

‘‘So what are you suggesting?’’

‘‘If she’s awake I could use walking inside as an excuse for talking to her. I would distract her, so you could get your stuff out of the closet. If I’m already inside and she’s asleep, I’ll get into the closet myself and get you the things you need.’’ he explained.

Clarke wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but there wasn’t much time to debate about his plan. She stepped to the side, leaning against the wall next to the door.

‘‘Hurry.’’ was everything she said before he made his way into the room. Only when he was already inside, she noticed that she didn’t tell him which drawer belonged to her. Well, she just hoped he would find out quickly… The thought of him seeing all the underwear, and even lingerie she brought made her pray to God for a second. Ten weeks included her period time, so she just hoped that he wouldn’t find her period panties in there.

She couldn’t hear anyone talking, so she figured that Octavia was still asleep and Bellamy already in the closet. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait for long, since he made his way out of the room in record time, closing the door behind him. Clarke wanted to ask him what was going on, but before she could do so, he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him into the boy’s bathroom.

‘‘Explain?’’

‘‘O is sleeping, so I just went to the closet,’’ he handed her a pair of underwear and she couldn’t help it but raised her eyebrow at him the moment she saw the _red lacy bra with a matching string_. He just shrugged his shoulders, even though she could see that he was trying to hide a smirk. ‘‘Anyway, I had to figure out myself which drawer was yours and well, your underwear was everything I could get before Raven and Emori entered the room. I was fast enough to hide behind the door until they were deep into a conversation. I used that moment to sneak out, so that’s everything I could get.’’

Clarke sighed and put her stuff on the counter before she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

‘‘So what now? I can’t walk around only wearing red lacy underwear, Bellamy.’’ she groaned.

“Okay, wait here.” Bellamy said before he left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Clarke rolled her eyes, but there wasn’t anything for her to do now. She could only wait for him to come back with stuff to wear and she hoped that he would get back quickly. She took a look at the underwear he brought her, shaking her head. He really picked one of the nicest she brought and what for?

She sighed again and started walking up and down the room, but it didn’t take Bellamy long to come back. He closed the door behind him as he gave her a light smile and brought his hand to the front from behind his back, holding a bag in his hand. She narrowed her eyes at him and snatched the bag away, putting it on the counter and opening it. There were toiletries in it and some clothes. She recognized the blue shirt that he was wearing the first time they met and the matching sweatpants. There were some others in it too and a black long sleeve shirt, as well as three towels; two big ones and a smaller one.

She turned her head around to face Bellamy again, who was already looking at her, arms crossed in front of his chest. She did the same thing, mimicking him.

‘‘How many of those sweatpants did you bring?’’

He snorted at her question and took off the pants he was wearing right now. His answer followed soon after that.

‘‘Why would I bring anything else to wear when we’re in this house more than half of the time?’’ he reasoned.

Clarke hated the fact that he was right. It wasn’t like she, herself, brought anything else for staying at home other than leggings in various colours or some shorts, but that was different. Bellamy could wear anything else but those fucking sweatpants.

‘‘What ‘bout these shorts men usually wear when it’s summer and hot outside?’’ She questioned.

‘‘Right, _outside_ , plus it’s not like you’re wearing anything else than those tight shorts or leggings.’’ he shot back.

She just rolled her eyes and undressed herself before she walked over to the shower, stepping inside.

‘‘You’re coming or what?’’ She said over her shoulder but didn’t wait for him to answer as she turned on the water to the right temperature.

Bellamy followed her soon after and closed the shower door before stepping under the spout with her. They didn’t talk much at first, just washed each other’s body.

‘‘Bellamy?’’

‘‘Yeah.’’

She turned around again and leaned against the wall, facing him.

‘‘You know we have to talk about… this.’’ The blonde said, motioning between them.

Bellamy sighed but nodded and took some steps towards her, stopped at one point and placed his hand against the wall next to her head.

‘‘Alright, talk.’’ he said.

Clarke had no idea if she would be able to focus if he was standing this close to her and the height difference between them didn’t really make it better, but discussing what was going on between them was important. Not only for them, but for the whole group. There was no time to skirt around the topic, so she just got straight to the point.

‘‘We have to stop hooking up.’’

Clarke was a little bit surprised by how soft this sentence came out of her. She wanted to sound more… sure about this whole situation. She knew that he heard that, too, but he was just ignoring it and replied as casual as always.

‘‘Yeah.’’

What happened next was the opposite of what she just told him and Clarke had to ask herself if Bellamy even understood what she said, but on the other hand… well, she didn’t really care. He cupped her chin and leaned down to kiss her. Passionately. And she kissed him back, although they should stop, it was like being controlled by an angel and devil at the same time. Her mind was the angel and Bellamy’s lips, the devil. How was she supposed to listen to her mind when all she could do was kiss Bellamy all day long? Right? Everyone would go with the devil. Well, that’s what she thought.

Clarke wrapped her arms around his neck whereupon he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Bellamy pressed her against the wall while Clarke ran one of her hands through his hair.

‘‘We should…’’ she started saying in between them kissing. ‘‘stop.’’

Bellamy made his way down to her neck causing her to throw her head back against the wall, giving him more access.

‘‘Definitely. Absolutely.’’ He kissed a path to her breasts, but Clarke pulled him up by the hair, making him look her in the eyes. He furrowed his brows a little bit, tilting his head to the side.

‘‘You don’t think we’re a match, right?’’ Bellamy snorted at that and placed a kiss on her neck again.

‘‘No, I don’t. Do you?’’ Clarke shook her head. ‘‘Do you want us to stop now?’’ She shook her head again. He raised one eyebrow at her which she returned with a little smirk.

‘‘One last time?’’ She asked challengingly.

‘‘One last time.’’

# # # # # # # # # #

7.50 am.

As soon as Clarke entered the room, Raven and Emori jumped off the bed and met her halfway.

‘‘Clarke, where have you been?’’

She just laughed and waved them off as she walked past them to her bed. At the same time, Octavia came out of the closet and sent her a light smile, but her facial expression changed into confusement a second later. Clarke knew exactly why she was looking at her like this, but she didn’t give her the time to say anything to the clothes she was wearing.

‘‘I was taking a shower,’’ she shrugged her shoulders and got under the blanket. ‘‘Woke up pretty early and no one of you guys were awake, so I just went to take a shower.’’

Emori raised one of her eyebrows at her but didn’t say anything and went to the closet. Octavia was sending Clarke an amused look but made her own way out of the room. Raven sat down on the bed, facing her.

‘‘Clarke… where have you been?’’

The blonde turned her head around to face her friend. She was able to see the smile that Raven was trying to hide, but she wouldn’t tell her that. She wouldn’t tell her anything; That had been the deal between her and Bellamy. They fucked three times and that was it. It wouldn’t happen again because both of them wanted to find their perfect match and if they wanted to do that, they needed to stop hooking up. Clarke was glad about the fact that they agreed on staying friends, but nothing else. She was fine with that, he was fine with that, easy.

‘‘I told you already, Rae. Please, just let me sleep, it’s too early for me to stay awake now.’’ Raven just shook her head but smiled and Clarke returned it genuinely.

‘‘Alright, Griffin. I’ll wake you up as soon as it’s breakfast time.’’ With that, the brunette got off the bed and followed Emori into the closet.

# # # # # # # # # #

Bellamy thanked God when he walked inside his room as quiet as possible but realized pretty soon that everyone was still sleeping. He then made his way to the closet, putting his toiletries and clothes away. Since he didn’t expect anyone to be awake, especially after he thought everyone was sleeping, he was surprised to see Miller leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of his chest. Bellamy knew why he was smirking at him, but there was no way he was going to tell him what happened.

‘‘Where did you sleep this night, Blake?’’ The older one scoffed at that and walked to him, leaning against the other side of the doorframe. ‘‘Definitely not in bed.’’ He rolled his eyes and mimicked his friend, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

‘‘Woke up hungry at like 3 am, so I went downstairs. Ate an omelette and fell asleep.’’ Well, he wasn’t lying. He just didn’t tell him about his dessert, which didn’t count as lying and Miller didn’t need to know about that. The man only raised an eyebrow at him.

‘‘You didn’t go to sleep wearing these clothes.’’

Bellamy just shrugged his shoulders. ‘‘Nope, I didn’t, but I took a shower as soon as I got up, so-’’ He cut himself off by the sight of Octavia, standing in front of Miller and him. His sister motioned Miller to leave and he did. They didn’t finish talking yet, but Bellamy knew where he wanted to go with the conversation they had, so he was kinda thankful that Octavia interrupted.

To be honest, he had no idea why she came to see him, especially after the past events. But, he wanted to talk to her and apologize anyway, so he walked back into the closet and waited for his sister to get inside, too. Octavia understood that immediately and closed the door behind her.

She turned around and leaned against the door, raking her fingers through her hair. Bellamy knew they had this nervous habit and even though he knew that this talk would be kinda serious, he had to smirk.

‘‘No, don’t do that face, Bell,’’ Octavia said as she tried to stay serious herself but failed too, as a smile made its way on her face. She shook her head lightly. ‘‘Look, I wanted to say sorry for what I said to you and did. I overreacted. I just want you to be happy after everything that happened with the whole,’’ she trailed off, but not for too long. ‘‘You know what I mean.’’

Bellamy nodded. He didn’t like fighting with his sister and he was glad about them being close enough so that if they fought, it wouldn’t take them long to get back to normal. He loved his sister, more than anything else in this world. Everything he wanted was for her to be happy.

‘‘It’s okay, O. I didn’t behave any better, did I? So, it’s fine. We made mistakes. Shit happens.’’

Octavia smirked and sat down against the door, legs pressed against her chest. She laid her arms on her knees and motioned him to sit down next to her. So, he did.

‘‘So,’’ the younger one started, turning her head to him, grin still plastered on her face and one raised eyebrow. ‘‘You and Clarke, huh.’’

Bellamy frowned a little, acting like he had no idea what she was talking about. Well, it wasn’t like he _really_ knew what she meant or where she got that information from. Roan? Nah, why would Roan go and talk to his sister about _his_ business? Especially, if he was part of the people that knew about the fight between Octavia and him. He couldn’t ask her either, that would reveal too much. So, he had to play dumb.

‘‘What do you mean ‘You and Clarke’?’’ he repeated.

Octavia rolled her eyes before hitting his arm. ‘‘Come on, big brother, you really think _I_ don’t recognize your clothes?’’ Bellamy looked at his little sister, but didn’t say anything, because what should he say? There was no reason to lie to her about _his_ clothes Clarke was wearing. They definitely spent too much time in the shower. She could’ve gotten back to bed without anyone noticing, but… well.

He just shrugged his shoulders again whereupon Octavia hit him again but screamed anyways.

‘‘O, what the hell?’’ She just laughed and stood up, helping him get up himself.

‘‘Clarke is hot and you’re finally back to relationships, I-’’ Bellamy shook his head and cut her off.

‘‘There’s no relationship, O. We had sex, that’s it.’’ Octavia made a face and shook her head, waving him off.

‘‘Yeah, _sure_ , that’s why you gave her your clothes.’’

It was Bellamy’s time to roll his eyes. ‘‘Well, she didn’t have any clothes with her when we took a shower so-’’

‘‘So, you guys took a _shower_! Together!’’ It wasn’t a question more like a statement, and the fact that she was nearly screaming it out loud annoyed the older one even more. Since when was she interested in his sex life? Sure, his sister always wanted him to have a relationship again after the two years he spent in prison, but when it came to one-night-stands, she didn’t approve. Bellamy just rolled his eyes and opened the door, walking out of the room soon after. ‘‘Hello!? Bell, I need answers!’’ she called after him.

The older one waved her off and opened the door to the hallway motioning her to walk out of the room. Luckily, she didn’t protest and walked past him, but turned around to him again as soon as she was standing in the hallway.

‘‘Are you into each other?’’ she suggested.

‘‘Bye, O.’’ He replied before slamming the door shut. Was he as annoying as she was? Sticking his nose into her business? He thought about that for some seconds but came to the conclusion that he wasn’t. Nope, she was definitely worse.

# # # # # # # # # # #

Week 1, Day 7 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 4 pm.

Clarke felt bad. She really did. It was Sunday, Matching Ceremony day, and she promised Finn two days ago that she would talk to him. Until now, she didn’t, and she noticed how Finn didn’t approach her anymore. So, Clarke thought it was her time to approach him now.

Currently, the whole group was spending their time downstairs either outside or inside the house. The girls were thinking about who to pick at the ceremony at 9 pm., whereas the boys tried to figure out who the girls would pick. Since Finn was talking to Wells and Clarke knew that he wouldn’t have a problem with giving her some time alone with Finn, she walked over, stopping in front of them.

‘‘Hey, sorry, can I talk to Finn for a few minutes?’’ she directed at Wells.

Finn was surprised by the sight of her, but told Wells that he would be back soon. With that, Clarke made her way out of the living room, followed by Finn.

‘‘Did you go to the camera room already?’’ Finn asked her. The blonde waited a bit for him, so they could walk upstairs next to each other. As soon as he was beside her, she shook her head and sent him a light smile.

‘‘No. You?’’ she replied.

‘‘I wasn’t in there, yet. But, if you don’t mind we could go there now?’’

‘‘Mhm…’’ Did she want to go there and have a conversation with him that really everyone could listen to? No, not really. ‘‘We could just go to your room, though, would be more comfortable.’’

Finn nodded and smiled _again_. Clarke really wanted to know what made him smile the whole time, but she couldn’t deny that him being happy about the fact that he could finally talk to her, without a bunch of people around them, was kinda cute. She already knew that Finn was good looking and attractive, that wasn’t a surprise to her, and since Raven already was with him, and she never said any bad words about him, she knew that he was a good guy. Clarke liked Finn and since Raven and him weren’t a perfect match and her friend wouldn’t pick him at the ceremony, she considered picking him instead, but first she wanted a real conversation with him.

They reached his room seconds later and sat down on his bed. She noticed that he didn’t share his bed with anyone and kept his part of the room pretty tidy. Clarke couldn’t complain about that, especially since she was… well, kinda messy. With taking a look at his nightstand, she was even more surprised to see a bottle of water standing next to the little light. She turned her head back to Finn who was already looking at her, smile still in place.

‘‘I’m really glad you approached me today,’’ he started and scooted a little closer to her. ‘‘I guess I waited long enough.’’ Clarke couldn’t help it and laughed a little.

‘‘I’m sorry about that. A lot of stuff happened this week and it’s kinda weird because it’s the first week we’re here you know?’’

‘‘Well, you didn’t have to be involved in that drama, but I understand. I’m just glad that you finally found time for me.’’ The blonde frowned a little.

She didn’t know how to interpret what he just said. _You didn’t have to be involved in that drama_. True, she didn’t, but it wasn’t like she was going to just be around the people she likes most in this house and ignore what was going on. Clarke wanted to be there for her friends and it wasn’t her fault that Finn didn’t really include himself in the group of friends she made within the first week. They just started talking and somehow managed to become this close already, sure she wouldn’t just watch, but help.

She wouldn’t tell him that, there was no reason to fight about this now, so she just shrugged her shoulders and laid on her back, looking at the ceiling.

‘‘So, tell me something about yourself.’’

Finn laid down next to her, but sideways. Clarke could feel him staring at her, but she kept her gaze at the ceiling.

He started telling her about himself. She learned that he was twenty-two years old and worked at a spaceship company. He had a little sister that was currently travelling around Europe and his last relationship ended a year ago. Clarke was surprised that he _really_ opened up to her, telling her about his childhood stories and things she normally wouldn’t tell someone from the beginning. Apparently, he had no problem with that, but she didn’t tell him much about herself. Just the general facts she told _everyone_ : her age, what she was studying, what she liked doing most in her free-time, etc. Finn didn’t seem to have a problem with that and didn’t try to find out deeper stuff about her, which she really appreciated. Still, there was something he wanted to know about her past.

‘‘What about you? Any past relationships? Or are you more of a hook-up person?’’ he pried.

Good question. Was she more a relationship person? If she looked back to the last four years, she would definitely say hook-up person, but that wasn’t true. Deep down, she wanted a relationship and if she was truly honest with herself, it had been the best idea in life to apply to this show. There was nothing wrong with casual sex, she liked it, she did it often, but being in a relationship was just… different. Even though her only, and last, relationship had been in high school, she knew that she was more of a relationship type of girl. It was just that there wasn’t anyone who interested her that much in the past. Boy or Girl.

‘‘I only had one relationship with a guy in high school. He cheated on me, so I dropped him. After that? Four years of casual hook-ups. With guys, with girls, I don’t really care. Oh, yeah, I’m bi.’’ Finn smiled and shrugged his shoulders before he turned on his back, too.

‘‘I don’t mind that, Clarke. And the fact that this guy cheated on you is just… disgusting, really. Nobody deserves that.’’ She turned his head around to look at him. He was already looking at her, still smiling, so she returned the smile.

‘‘It’s fine, I’m over it. I had great sex over the last few years, made me forget the whole situation.’’ Clarke said casually.

Finn nodded, but didn’t stop looking at her nor smiling which made Clarke feel a little bit weird, but again, she just couldn’t help it. He was actually happy about spending time with her.

‘‘I really want to kiss you right now.’’ he confessed.

Well, and _now_ she couldn’t help it but laugh as she sat up, Finn doing the same. Clarke wasn’t sure if she understood clearly. _He_ wanted to kiss _her_. Did he get over Raven that quickly? What happened to Raven being his perfect match? There was so much she wanted to ask him, but she decided that one question would be enough for her to know.

‘‘And what about Raven, huh? Isn’t she important anymore?’’ Finn shook his head and smiled at her.

‘‘We talked after the Truth Booth on Wednesday and we both agreed that it would be better for everyone if we stop whatever we were having at that moment. So, we’re both free again and I really want to try this out with you. I mean it, Clarke. You’re an amazing woman. I know that and I just feel that chemistry between us. We should try and see where this could go. Okay? If you want to take it slow, we can take it slow. You decide how it is going, especially since Raven is your friend. We can keep it for ourselves first, I’m fine with that as long as it is what you want.’’

Clarke was speechless. She didn’t expect him to give her a speech only to get her approval to start things with him. After all, they were here to find their perfect match and it wasn’t like Finn couldn’t be hers, but the fact that she knew that Raven didn’t approach anyone else yet made it hard for her to just say yes. She needed time to think about it, but on the other hand, the matching ceremony was tonight and she had to pick someone. There was no way she was going to pick Bellamy, they already talked about this. They didn’t think they were each other’s match so there was no reason for them to pick each other, but who else could she pick?

The blonde didn’t really talk to Zeke except for Bellamy as their topic. Roan wasn’t an option after what happened on Tuesday, and she didn’t think Wells was her perfect match either. She could pick Lexa, but she didn’t have a real conversation with her yet and the girl had been flirting with Costia already. There wasn’t anybody else other than Finn that she could pick and since Raven and him had been confirmed as no match, she knew that Raven wouldn’t pick him either. Everything lead to Finn.

‘‘Alright,’’ she started. ‘‘I’m okay with that, but as soon as it’s getting kinda serious we tell everyone, yeah? _Especially_ Raven.’’ Finn smiled at her and nodded, but he wasn’t satisfied yet.

‘‘So, can I kiss you now?’’ Clarke laughed again but nodded, because why not? There was nothing going on between him and her friend anymore and she and Bellamy agreed to stop hooking up. Okay, it wasn’t like they had a rule to be exclusive anyway and while they were having sex, he also kissed Maya so, why not?

As soon as she gave him her consent, Finn placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her closer to him. She leaned forward and met him halfway. The kiss they were sharing was tender and slow. Clarke wrapped her arms around his neck and he used that moment to lay her down on her back with him on top. The blonde didn’t know how far they would be going but right now she just let it be.

# # # # # # # # # #

9 pm.

It was time for their first matching ceremony.

They all were wearing something more formal than they would be normally wearing. Bellamy chose to wear a dark red button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He undid the first two buttons and paired it with some black cargo pants and Dr. Martens.

The place they were having their ceremony at was across the street, but it wasn’t really a house. It was like a big winter garden with a stage that was split in two sections. One, for the group that would pick the person they thought was their match and another one, occupied with seats for the group that would get picked. Today, the boys and Lexa would be sitting on those seats and the girls, including Jackson, would pick their person.

In the middle of the two sections, a bit further away, there was a podium, which was used for locking in each pair if they would place their hands on the illuminated screen. It was situated in front of light posts that would represent each match _if_ they would be able to match up correctly.

Since the guys would get chosen this week, they entered the room first.

The first thing they heard when they walked into the room was Aryana whistling.

‘‘I see, I see. Y’all wanted to look good for the ladies and gentlemen tonight,’’ She clapped her hands together and motioned to the seats on the right side of the room. ‘‘Guys, Lexa, take your seats.’’ They all sat down, each in their own seat. ‘‘Are you ready for seeing the ladies, including Jackson?’’ she encouraged.

‘‘Hell yes, I’ve been waiting to see Emori in a short dress all day long, let them come!’’ Murphy yelled from his spot. Bellamy just shook his head but couldn’t help it, as his mouth curled upwards.

‘‘Alright. Ladies, Jackson. Show us how great you’re looking today!’’ she called.

Bellamy turned his head around to see the rest of the group walking into the room and well… when was the last time he saw so many beautiful ladies at the same time. The first person he looked at was Octavia, just so he could make sure she wasn’t wearing anything inappropriate. His little sister was wearing a leather skirt with a black crop top and matching sneakers. Her hair was up in a braided ponytail. _Not bad_ , he thought.

Looking to her left, he saw Raven wearing a purple maxi dress that had a slit on her right leg. _Nice_ , but not as nice as Clarke looked. She was walking behind Raven, wearing a blue mini dress that _also_ had a slit on the right side. It did amazing things for her curves, legs _and_ breasts. How was he _not_ able to think of ripping that dress off her. The fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath didn’t make it better.

He looked at Emori instead, trying to focus on the game again and had to smirk when he noticed that she was wearing a short dress just like Murphy wanted. Bellamy was sure that the Boom-Boom room would be occupied this night.

As soon as they were standing in two rows on the other half of the stage, Aryana raised her voice again.

‘‘Amazing. You guys really look great tonight, wow. But, let’s get serious. This is your first Matching Ceremony and with that, the first time you can get closer to winning one million dollars.’’ Everyone started clapping because _hell yeah_ , they were ready to play this game and they would do anything to win that amount of money.

‘‘All you have to do is identify your perfect match and you’ll not only get that money, but find love.’’ They clapped again, since that was why they applied to the show in the first place. Sure, it was also about getting that money, but they all sucked at relationships and that’s the real reason most of them got here in the first place.

_ Interview _ _– Raven: Way too smart for men_

_‘‘This is our first Matching Ceremony and this week didn’t really work out the way we wanted. There wasn’t much conversation between the guys and girls, or girls and girls, or guys and guys, so we kinda have no idea who could be who’s match. I just hope everything goes fine.’’_

‘‘Behind me, there are eleven beams. Each one of those beams represents one perfect match. If none of those beams lights up tonight, you have a blackout and this would cut your prize of a million dollars in half.’’

‘‘What the fuck, why didn’t we get to know this before?’’ Roan yelled a few seats away from Bellamy. They couldn’t be serious… so if none of those beams would light up, if they didn’t identify one perfect match, the money would get cut? This was going to be fun.

Aryana just shook her head and laughed a little before she got serious again and turned to the people who were standing on the left side of the stage.

‘‘Alright, as you can see, first to choose this week are the girls, including Jackson. When I call your name, each of you will step forward and tell me who your heart tells you, is your perfect match. Then, the two of you will come up here and place your hands on the monitor and lock yourself in as a couple. That will reveal how many couples are a match, but not who those matches are. _You_ need to figure that out by yourself. Alright, Emori, you’re first.’’

Emori made her way to the podium and stopped right in front of it. Aryana sent her a light smile before she asked her who she would pick at the first Matching Ceremony.

‘‘Tonight, my perfect match is John.’’ The whole group cheered as Murphy made his way to the podium and stopped as soon as he was standing next to Emori. Aryana spoke next.

‘‘Emori, why did you pick John tonight?’’ Murphy wrapped his arm around Emori’s waist as she answered Aryana’s question.

‘‘Look at him, whenever I see him I just want to rip his clothes off. Sadly, though, I haven’t done that, yet.’’ Aryana laughed at that but didn’t say anything and just gestured for the two of them to place their hands on the monitor. After that, they walked back to the seat Murphy was sitting in before.

Echo was the next person that had to choose someone as her match and to no one’s surprise, she picked Roan. They locked their hands in and sat down on a seat together. After that, it was Costia’s turn who picked Lexa as her perfect match. Sasha followed and chose Monty. The next one Aryana called up was Octavia.

‘‘Hello, Octavia.’’ Aryana said.

Octavia replied to her with a smile on her face, ‘‘Hey.’’

‘‘So, you had a date with Jasper this week and as far as I know, you really enjoyed it. Are you still going to pick him tonight or is there someone else who may be your match for this week?’’

Octavia turned around to look at all the guys that still had a free spot next to them, before she turned back to the host.

‘‘Right. I enjoyed my date with him, but as you said, we should follow our hearts and that’s why I’m picking Lincoln today.’’ she finished.

Bellamy frowned a little and turned his head around to look at Lincoln, who was clearly as surprised as almost everyone else was. The tattooed man got up anyway. He didn’t really have a choice and made his way to the podium.

‘‘Well, that’s surprising. Why did you choose Lincoln tonight?’’ Aryana pondered.

‘‘I have the feeling that he’s a really nice guy and after he entered our girl’s room, I somehow couldn’t stop thinking about him. Clarke told me to go after the person I think is my match and that I should play the game, and well, that’s what I’m doing.’’

‘‘Sounds about right,’’ Aryana said as she guided them to the monitor to secure their match. ‘‘We’ll see if you made the right call.’’ Octavia and Lincoln sat down as soon as they finished locking their hands into the screen. The host called Harper to her next. The blonde chose Jasper, since he was free now. After that, it was Jackson’s time to pick his match for the night and unsurprisingly, he picked Miller.

‘‘Clarke, it’s your turn.’’ Said person made her way towards the host and sent her a light smile in response. ‘‘So, I heard that there was something going on between you and our handsome boy with the freckles, Friday night.’’ she lowered her tone suggestively.

Bellamy could see how Clarke’s head spun around to the rest of the girl’s standing on the other side of the stage and by following her gaze, his eyes landed on Raven. _Jesus_. So not only Roan and Octavia knew before, but Raven too and now everyone who was watching the show. He turned his head back to the front, looking at Aryana and Clarke. He could feel that someone was staring at him right now, but he just ignored it and waited for Clarke’s reply.

‘‘There wasn’t something going on between us. We were dancing, just like everyone else on that day.’’ Bellamy wanted to clap so hard but he kept himself from doing so. Their agreement still stood and he was glad that Clarke didn’t say anything about what _really_ happened that night. Aryana just nodded but didn’t hide her smirk.

‘‘Alright, so who are you going to choose tonight?’’

Clarke turned around and pointed to Finn. ‘‘Tonight, my perfect match is going to be Finn.’’ Bellamy didn’t like Finn. At all. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he just had a bad feeling about him from the moment he started approaching Clarke seconds after it was confirmed that he and Raven weren’t a match. Sure, they had to play the game, he understood, but something about that whole situation still bugged him, especially after what Raven had told him.

‘‘Bellamy.’’ By the sound of his name, he snapped back to reality and looked at the person in front of the podium. Oh, it was Raven. What was that? First, Clarke just randomly picks Finn and now Raven. _Raven_ picked him? _Whatever_ , he thought as he got up and walked to stand next to Raven.

‘‘Are you shocked by Raven picking you, Bellamy, or did you expect that?’’ Aryana asked him.

He just shook his head but shrugged his shoulders. ‘‘I didn’t expect that, to be honest, but it’s not like we don’t get along. We could be a match, who knows.’’

‘‘Alright, lock in.’’ He and Raven locked in before they headed back to their seats. As soon as they sat down, both of them didn’t pay much attention to what was happening but started speaking as quietly to one another.

‘‘Do you know why Clarke picked Finn?’’ Raven whispered. Bellamy looked up for a second, only to see who was standing in the front, but dropped his gaze again when he saw Maya and Zeke.

‘‘Nah, I have no idea. Didn’t you say you and Finn wanted to keep whatever you guys had?’’ Raven nodded at that then turned her head to look at him. He did the same and the moment he saw the devastated look on her face, he wanted to take that question back.

‘‘Yeah… he told me nothing would change and I mean we _must_ pick someone else, but when Clarke called him up he… I don’t know, did you see how he was smiling?’’ Bellamy shook his head but wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer whereupon she laid her head on his shoulder. ‘‘I don’t know, I just hope there’s nothing going on between them.’’ He didn’t need to answer that one, he knew it, so he didn’t. Both of them focused on the last pair that locked up: Luna and Wells.

‘‘Alright guys, you all locked in. Now, let’s hope that you’ll get no blackout tonight and pray that you get as many beams as possible! Let’s get to it.’’ With that the host turned around and the lights went off.

‘‘Five beams, I’m calling it now!’’ Murphy yelled. _God_ , was he ever going to shut up?  
  
‘‘We’ll get no beams…’’ Raven said right next to Bellamy. He just pulled her a bit closer, implying that whatever was going to happen, he would be there for her. And then… it happened.

One beam lit up. _No Blackout_.

Everyone started clapping and shouting, some people stood up and screamed. They were still able to get one million dollars. _Fuck, yes_.

‘‘One beam, guys. No blackout! Let’s see how many you can get tonight.’’ Aryana chimed in.

Raven sat up correctly and took Bellamy’s hand in hers. ‘‘Please dear God, let’s get another one.’’ She said. And well, it helped.

 _Another beam_. This time both of them jumped up too and clapped heavily. They were good. They were fucking amazing. Two beams in the first week after they thought they fucked it up? This was too good to be true.

‘‘Two beams, ladies and gentlemen! This looks good for you guys. Can we get one more?’’

Looking around, Bellamy saw that no one was sitting in their seats anymore. They were all aware of what this meant. _Two beams_? So right now there were two matches sitting, well _standing_ , next to each other. They had to figure out who these matches were. They _had to_.

‘‘Come on, come on.’’ He said quietly to himself.

 _Three beams_.

They all screamed and jumped around the room, hugged each other and clapped their hands. This couldn’t be real. _Three fucking beams in their first week_.

‘‘Another one. oh my God, please let there be another one!’’ Jasper pleaded. They all calmed down a bit, turned their attention back to the beams and hoped another one would light up.

 _Come on, another one_.

The lights went on again and Aryana turned around to face them. She was smiling and clapped her hands together and even though all of them wanted to get a fourth beam, three was amazing. They didn’t expect to get so many beams this week, so there was no reason to be sad now.

‘‘Guys, this is _fantastic_. Three beams in your first week, I think you could really win this and end up going home with love _and_ one million dollars. I’m proud of you! Now go home, get a drink and start figuring out which of those matches represent your three beams! We’ll see you on Wednesday for your very first challenge, have a good night!’’ Aryana closed.

 _Yeah,_ Bellamy thought as he walked over to Octavia and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. _They would have an amazing night_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> week 1; check.
> 
> thoughts to the chapter and the whole first week? what do you expect from week 2? comment down below!  
> and good news: i'll start posting twice a week now and this story is going to be longer than i thought before.
> 
> thanks for all your kudos, bookmarks and obviously comments! see you in a few days, xoxo


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another one! i asked you if you want twice a week, you said yes, so here it is!

Week 2, Day 10 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 10 am.

"I don’t remember the last time I had so much sex in the span of four days."

Clarke looked up from her sketchbook and turned her head around to face Emori who just let herself drop on the bed next her. By the way her hair looked, the blonde knew that she had just had sex and as much as she wanted to stay serious, she had to laugh. Emori glared at her but couldn’t help it herself and started smirking.

"Seriously, Clarke, I’m trying to figure out how I’ll be able to participate at the challenge today. I can’t walk, you’ll have to carry me."

Clarke shook her head as she got up and put her sketchbook and pencil away. She noticed how Emori sat up on the bed and followed every movement she made. The blonde turned back to her friend and raised one eyebrow by the sight of how tired she seemed to be.

"The consequences of good sex, Emori." Said person shook her head and stood up, placed her hands on Clarke’s shoulder and got a bit closer.

"Wrong. The consequences of _brilliant_ sex. And the worst is, I would go back to John right now only for… well, today, a third round." Clarke laughed as she took Emori’s hands off her shoulder.

"It really hit you, didn’t it?"

"Believe me, it did." Emori responded.

Clarke shook her head again but made her way to the closet. Today was challenge day and none of them had an idea of what they would do. It would be their first challenge, since they didn’t have one in the first week, but they would try to get pairs that _really_ could be a perfect match. After the Matching Ceremony on Sunday, they were all positive about getting a confirmed match this week and they would try everything to get one.

The blonde changed into some black sports leggings and matching sports bra and waited for Emori to get ready herself. The other participants were probably already waiting downstairs, but there wasn’t really a reason to rush. The group was about to meet at a park a few minutes away from their house with Aryana at 12 pm., and right now it was only 10 am.

They didn’t have breakfast yet, so that was for sure the reason everyone was already downstairs, and Clarke proved herself right the minute Emori and her walked into the kitchen area. Everyone was there except for Finn, Raven, Octavia and Lincoln. Clarke knew that Raven got up pretty early this morning, but she didn’t think about it any further when she was still half asleep. She had no idea where she was, and the fact that Finn wasn’t downstairs, either, made her feel a little bit sick. The blonde really hoped that Finn didn’t tell her friend anything yet about what happened between them on Sunday. Sure, all they were doing was playing the game, but it just didn’t feel like it was the right time to tell Raven now.

Clarke sat down on one of the bar stools, next to Miller on her left and Harper on her right. Across from her, Zeke and Bellamy were preparing breakfast for everyone. She had no idea where they got those protein pancakes from, but by only taking a glimpse at the physique of some of the guys _and_ girls in this house, she was sure one of them brought them along.

Two days ago the girls and the boys started getting closer, not all of them, but Clarke enjoyed being around the people she was with right now. In the first place, they all were here to find love, and that’s what they all wanted to do, but somehow they still managed to form a little group that fit perfectly together and started growing long-term friendships.

The members of the group, next to Clarke, Harper and Miller, were Raven, Emori, Maya, Murphy, Zeke, Roan, Monty, Jasper, Lincoln and the Blake siblings. Sometimes Wells and Finn spent their time with the group, too, but it was mostly just the fourteen of them. It was nice; They had a lot in common and being around each other was fun, so they started spending more time together since Monday afternoon.

They called themselves ‘ _La Familia_ ’, thanks to Octavia and Bellamy.

It all started when the girls had been playing ‘Truth or Dare’ alone in their room. When Harper dared Raven to go and kiss Roan, they were all too excited and couldn’t miss that scene. So, they followed the brunette into the boys’ room and luckily, each one of them was there. Zeke was sitting on his bed, reading a book, while Miller and Roan were doing sit-ups in the middle of the room. Bellamy and Murphy were discussing a movie, resting on the floor against the end of a bed. But when the door hit the wall and the girls entered, giggling and crowding around Roan, they all turned their attention to them.

There was no time for them, and _definitely_ not for Roan, to process what was happening. Raven let herself fall on top of Roan as she kissed him, because, well, it was her dare. Roan didn’t kiss her back at first, but as soon as he did the girls around them high-fived each other and screamed, making Murphy shake his head and Miller leave the circle he was in.

For some reason, they stayed in the boys’ room after that situation and Monty, Jasper and Lincoln came over. However, they didn’t want to continue playing the game with them, so they decided to chill instead. They talked a lot about their childhoods, even though Clarke and the Blake siblings didn’t participate much in that conversation. Other than that, future goals were a topic, same as their most embarrassing moments.

At one point, they came to the conclusion that they should exchange numbers as soon as the show would end and that they definitely had to meet up again. Jasper claimed that it was no coincidence that they got along so well and wanted to give their group a name. Roan just placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head.

"You’re stupid, if you believe I’ll let _you_ decide the name of," he rolled his eyes and motioned in between all of them. "Whatever this is."

Jasper snorted at that and went to stand on a bed. It was his time to give a speech.

"Listen. I love Monty. I guess you don’t know how much I love Monty yet, but I do love him. Monty? I love you." Monty just shook his head but couldn’t hide the smile that made its way on his face. "But, I have to give it to all of you. Y’all are funny and some very good looking people, okay? And if someone would’ve told me that I’ll meet you guys here, I still would’ve come. So, that’s why…" he narrowed his eyes at Roan, trying to seem mad at him, but completely failed when he started smirking. "We’re gonna have a name."

With that, the discussion had started. Everyone begun throwing around group names, some didn’t fit, others didn’t even have a real context, and some were just… well.

"Clit Mob!" The whole group spun their heads around to look at Murphy who was grinning.

"Nope, definitely not. What about something easy? Like…"

Octavia didn’t let Zeke finish his sentence, she stood up and smiled widely.

"That’s it! We’re trying to find something that fits us, right? But look, Raven’s mother… Roan’s mother…" She turned her head to look at Bellamy and sent him a light smile which he easily returned before she faced the others again, continuing what she begun. "We all kinda lost a family member and that’s it. Now _we are family_. People might say it’s too early to say that, but seriously? I don’t really care much about the other participants on the other side, and I’m glad about experiencing this with _you_. Jasper’s right. This isn’t a coincidence and I know that every one of you agrees. So, _family_." she closed.

Silence. No one had said anything. They knew she was right, each one of them, even if some didn’t want to accept that, yet, but in that moment, Clarke knew that it was true. Not only because she herself felt safe and comfortable around them, but because she found what had been missing in her life, especially since her dad died. Happiness. A family. So, yes. They were _family_. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

"Ugh, I can’t even say that I wish it wasn’t the truth… Until now, making friends wasn’t easy for me and to see that we somehow fit so perfectly…" Emori shook her head as she smiled. "Family it is."

Murphy scoffed a little but couldn’t hide his smile either. "Not to disappoint you, but family is so random, we should think of something else or… if we use it, let’s translate it into another language, please."

"La Familia."

Everyone had turned their heads around to look at Bellamy. Actually, it didn’t sound bad at all, but the reason wasn’t clear to any of them. Well, any of them but Octavia, who had tears in her eyes and was smiling at her brother. No one wanted to ask, but they knew they wouldn’t find out where it had come from, so Zeke took one for the team.

"Explain." Octavia sat down next to Bellamy who told them why Spanish instead of any other language.

"Octavia and I are half siblings. My dad was Filipino and taught my mother and me Spanish, since he was from the Spanish speaking part of the Philippines. He died when I was three years old. He was the love of my mother’s life. Before our mum died-" he trailed off.

Nobody said anything, rather giving him time to continue speaking. Eventually, he did.

"…She told me that he always did everything he could for us, worked hard enough, so mum didn’t have to and could take care of me. That’s all she wanted to do. One day-" he sighed lightly, and Octavia grabbed for his hand, squeezing it. "a guy, that my dad had issues with, entered our house and threatened to kill my mum and me and he was about to pull the trigger. Dad jumped in front of mum, last minute…"

"Oh my God…" Raven had said quietly to herself. Bellamy just waved his hand and managed to smile a little, even in the state he was in. Clarke could feel her lips form into a smile as she remembered that situation. Only the mere thought of it tempted her to reach over the kitchen counter and grab his hand, only to show him that she would be here for him, that all of them would be here for him. As _La Familia_.

Bellamy had continued after that, telling them how his last words were ‘Por la Familia’ before he died. Clarke only remembered how some people started crying or how others went to comfort him. Clarke wasn’t sure if his mother or him had told Octavia that story, but she definitely knew. She was proud of Bellamy. She was proud of the Blakes, because she knew that this wasn’t everything. They went through so much in their past and they deserved happiness, love, their best life. Clarke understood why Octavia wanted to come here and it was the best idea that she, _they_ could’ve made.

"Clarke," the blonde turned her head around to face Miller who was already looking at her, smile stuck to his face, but she could see that he was also concerned. "You alright?" She returned his smile and nodded as she reached for the bacon on his plate.

"Yeah. I’m fine."

Clarke really was, and she knew everything was going to be alright. Not only for herself, but also for her friends. This was their little journey and they would end it and start a new one after the end of this show. _Together_.

# # # # # # # # #

12 pm.

As soon as the group got to the park, everyone begun questioning what their challenge was going to be. They passed some stakes to get closer to Aryana, who was already waiting for them. The host didn’t speak until they were positioned in two rows. Girls in the first, boys in the second.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your first getaway challenge!" she called.

The whole group started cheering and clapping. They wanted to be successful today and if the challenge would bring them closer to getting one million dollars at the end of the tenth week, they would give their all at this getaway challenge.

"I’m still impressed by how the first week started for you guys. Three beams? Incredible. But, now you need to figure out which of the pairs that were sitting next to each other on Sunday, are a perfect match. I hope you talked about it, as a group, and the couples you chose will fight for getting into the Truth Booth."

_ Interview _ _– Luna Florin: Independent_

_"Our first Matching Ceremony went amazing, but we must figure out who these beams stood for. This challenge could really help us. We all hope Miller and Jackson work their asses off, so we can vote them into the Truth Booth."_

"Alright, let’s get to the point," Aryana uttered. "Last week you guys picked people by looking at their outer appearance, but is this really how you should choose your perfect match?"

Clarke could see Echo shaking her head from where she was standing. "Definitely not." She said.

"Right," the host agreed. "There are various ways of finding out to whom a person is attracted to. Experts believe that the way a person smells is also a factor in being attracted to someone.”

"As if this is true!" Finn yelled from where he was standing; Zeke was standing to his left and Monty to his right. Aryana could only laugh at Finn’s response.

"Anyway… We’ll find out who you are most attracted to in some minutes. This challenge is called: Love stinks!"

Murphy clapped his hands before he rubbing them together. "That’s going to be fun. Aryana! Bring it on."

The host laughed but started explaining how the challenge would go to the group.

"Alright, this is how it works." Her facial expression and her tone got serious again which made them focus on what she was going to say. "This challenge is for our beautiful ladies and our handsome Jackson."

"Great, I can’t even walk properly and now I have to participate at this challenge!? I should’ve known before."

"I’m not going to ask you why you can’t walk, Emori, but don’t worry, this challenge doesn’t have much to do with sports." Aryana assured her. Emori just shook her head and rolled her eyes before she laid her head on Clarke’s shoulder, who couldn’t help but laugh at her.

"As I said, this one is for the girls, including Jackson. They will do all the work while the guys are going to be tied up against these stakes that you passed by a few minutes ago. Lexa will get tied up, too. But, it’s not going to be that easy."

Sure, it wasn’t going to be easy, Clarke thought. Would’ve been too good to be true after getting three beams at the Matching Ceremony.

The host continued explaining. "The girls, as well as Jackson, will get their eyes blindfolded and at my command, you have to find the guy, or in case of Lexa, girl you want to go on a date with. Of course, only based on the way the person smells. As soon as you are able to identify your dream person, you have to untie their blindfold and try to reach the buzzer that I’m standing next to right now. After that, you will find out who you picked."

Didn’t sound as bad as Clarke thought some prior to the explanation, yet, she knew that she shouldn’t pick one person: Bellamy. The blonde knew exactly how he smelled, so it would be easy for her not to pick him, and even though Clarke wanted to keep it on the low with Finn, she would try to get on a date with him, so that they could have some alone time for real, instead of hiding somewhere in the house.

Aryana stepped forward and handed all the girls their blindfolds. The game begun.

# # # # # # # # # #

Their first challenge was a mess. Things didn’t go how they wanted.

For some reason Jackson wasn’t able to recognize Miller by his smell, so the groups’ one and only couple, that they knew was a match, didn’t win the getaway date. Clarke wasn’t able to identify Finn, same as Emori, who couldn’t recognize Murphy, which was… weird. But, the first three girls that identified a person and hit the buzzer weren’t _that_ bad. It wasn’t what they wanted, but it could’ve gotten worse.

Apparently, Luna liked the way Lincoln smelled, so she picked him and hit the buzzer first. When she took off the blindfold from her eyes, she was a bit shocked, but didn’t complain about going on a getaway date with him. Octavia didn’t like it and Clarke couldn’t help it but laugh at the jealousy she could see in her eyes.

The second pair that hit the buzzer were Sasha and Monty, and even thought Clarke and her friends didn’t expect them, or think that they could be a perfect match, they were happy for Monty.

_ Interview _ _– Miller: Most loyal person on earth_

_"Monty is amazing, really. He’s so smart and he focuses on this game so hard, he just wants to find his perfect match. But, he’s also great as a person and I’m glad I can call him family- nah, familia, too. Really, we just want each other to be happy though."_

The last couple was… unsurprisingly Roan and Echo. La Familia wanted to be happy for Roan, they really wanted to, but Echo wasn’t a person they wanted to deal with _and_ see with Roan. But, he didn’t seem to mind going on a date with her and well… Clarke knew why.

All in all, they weren’t happy about the fact that Miller and Jackson didn’t win the challenge, but they had eight other Truth Booths’, so, at one point they would be able to get in there. Now, they had to wait and see what would happen at the end of the day when they decided who was going into the Truth Booth, and if this pair was a perfect match or not.

# # # # # # # # # #

3.30 pm.

Bellamy wasn’t surprised that Raven entered his room; He was more confused about the fact that she was wearing nothing else but a bathrobe and had her toiletries hooked under her arm. By the way Raven rolled his eyes at him, he knew that the look on his face represented his confusion.

"Will you continue reading, nerdy, or will you come and listen to my rant?"

The brunette didn’t wait for an answer, just turned around and made her way to the bathroom. Bellamy groaned. He had no idea what Raven wanted to rant about, but he wouldn’t let her down, so he got up and followed her to the girls’ bathroom. Luckily, no one was in the hallway at that moment, so nobody would start spreading rumours of them showering together. Bellamy didn’t have a problem with that, not really, but there was a high possibility that Finn would find out and he didn’t want to destroy whatever Raven still had with him. So, he was glad that he could make it into the bathroom without being seen.

What he didn’t expect after closing the door behind him, was Raven undressing unabashedly in front of him. And it wasn’t like he was staring at her, he did the opposite, turned around and waited for her to get into the shower. Bellamy didn’t feel uncomfortable, he’d seen naked women, a lot of them, and he’d seen Raven naked already, but this was still different.

"You can turn around, Blake." The brunette said. He could hear the amusement in her voice and as much as he wanted her to be serious, it was funny, kind of.

So, Bellamy turned around and jumped onto the counter, leaning against the mirror and crossing his arms in front of him. From this position, he was able to see her, but she didn’t mind, and he didn’t have any kind of sexual images running through his mind, so it was fine. Raven wouldn’t bring him in here if she didn’t want to talk to him without being disturbed or observed and he was glad that she started talking as soon as she turned on the water to wash herself.

"I’m trying to figure this situation out, you know? Like don’t tell me that Finn didn’t use his little charming smile on Clarke when he was walking towards her at the Matching Ceremony. I swear to God, this boy told me that we’d keep our relationship to ourselves. He said I’m his fucking perfect match, Bellamy! Is he-"

Bellamy cut her off. "Do you want me to say something-"

"No, shut up and listen to what my mind wants to say." He held his hands up in surrender before he crossed them in front of his chest again. "Anyway… right. Is he a cheater!? He is a cheater, right? If he is now with Clarke but still comes to me and has sex… oh my God, do you think they’re fucking!? Bellamy, tell me they aren’t fucking!"

Actually, Bellamy had no idea if they were fucking or not and if it wasn’t for Raven, he wouldn’t even care. Both could do whatever the hell they wanted and he wasn’t in a place to judge about what they were doing and what not. He didn’t answer Raven’s question, just waited for her to continue her rant, but she didn’t. Instead she turned around and threw her hands in the air.

"Bellamy, you are no help here!"

"You said I should let you talk, that’s all I’m doing right? Keep going, Raven."

"No!" The brunette threw her shower gel on the floor only to grab it again and walk out of the shower. Bellamy had no idea how long she was in there, but definitely not for too long. She wrapped her towel around her body and stomped towards him, putting her bottle of shower gel and shampoo on the counter next to him. "Tell me, are they fucking, yes or no."

It wasn’t a question and he knew he had to answer, but seriously, what did he know? He couldn’t imagine Clarke falling for a guy like Finn, or even thinking that he could be her perfect match. Yet, Raven wasn’t dumb and he didn’t think that Clarke was either, so it probably had something to do with his charm. _Gross_.

"Raven, I have no idea, and it’s not like I want to think about Clarke and Finn having sex. Also, I don’t think she would do that to you," he shrugged his shoulders and jumped off the counter. "She would’ve told you that she was gonna start having something with him, so..."

The brunette seemed to think about what he said and Bellamy thought that she would finally calm down, but it just made everything worse. Raven ripped the towel off her body and threw it against him. Luckily, he caught it.

"I really don’t know if I should be mad at Clarke, or Finn. I need to calm the fuck down, so calm me down, Bellamy!"

"How do you want _me_ to calm you down, Raven? Just stop thinking about it and distract yourself from all that unnecessary drama."

Bellamy looked at her and, again, was able to see how his friend was thinking of what he said. He had no idea if it worked _this time_ , but he really hoped that she would stop worrying about something she had zero proof of, expect for Clarke choosing Finn at the Matching Ceremony. And if he was being honest, what Raven and Finn wanted to do, just keeping their relationship, wasn’t fair to the other participants, including him. Surprisingly, Raven totally misunderstood what he was trying to say, or just didn’t want to listen to him.

She made her way towards him with a hopeful look in her eyes and Bellamy really tried to figure out where that hope came from, yet he didn’t really notice how close they got with every step she took towards him, until she was right in front of him.

"Raven… don’t." Bellamy spoke out warningly. By the way she begun playing with the hem of his shirt, he knew that she didn’t want to stop now, and _God_ , if this situation wasn’t as bad as it was now and if she wasn’t his friend, he would go for it, but he cared too much and knew not only him, but she would regret this in the end. So, he took her hands away from his shirt and took a step backwards whereupon Raven threw her hands up in the air again.

"So, Finn can have all his fun while I’m going through pain or what!?"

Now, Bellamy had enough. "Raven, you don’t know what’s going on between them!? Someone had to pick Finn and it would’ve been stupid if it was a random person, who doesn’t think that Finn is their perfect match anyways! This is why we’re here, remember? Finding our perfect match? If he’s not yours, just accept it. There are now nine or ten other guys who could be your match. Focus on that."

Bellamy could hear her sigh, but he knew that she understood. He never said that it would be easy to let go, especially if they really thought they would be each other’s match, but it was for the best. Not only for Raven, but for everyone else.

His friend grabbed her towel again and wrapped it around her body as she took all her toiletries.

"Fine. I hate that you’re right, but I know it’s the truth. I’ll talk to Finn later and tell him that it’s over."

"Good."

There wasn’t much more to say, so she sent him away. Bellamy just hoped that Raven would really talk to him and end things between her and Finn. He didn’t want her to get hurt if there was something going on between Clarke and Finn and it was time for Raven to continue figuring out who her perfect match might be, but she wasn’t the only one. Bellamy had his own problems. He had to approach girls again, so he could find out who his match was himself, and from now on, this would be his first priority.

# # # # # # # # # #

4 pm.

Voting a couple into the Truth Booth was somehow easier this week, probably because everyone was excited to vote and see if some of the pairs that went on the getaway date were a perfect match.

Harper and Maya were the first to vote a couple into the Truth Booth and went for Monty and Sasha whilst Zeke and Wells picked Lincoln and Luna. Miller and Jackson decided for Roan and Echo. Finn and Murphy voted next and picked Monty and Sasha. It was Lexa’s and Costia’s turn after that, who voted Lincoln and Luna into the Truth Booth same as Emori, Clarke, Octavia, Raven and Bellamy.

In the end they could only hope that they picked the right couple for the Truth Booth. They needed a confirmed perfect match to be able to figure out who represented one of the beams that lit up at their first Matching Ceremony. Even though the pairs could’ve been better, they still were positive of getting at least one match. This week would be a good one… well, that’s what they hoped for at least.

# # # # # # # # # #

7 pm.

It was time for the Truth Booth.

Clarke was sitting on the couch between Murphy and Costia as the whole group waited for the results of whom they voted into it. They weren’t quite excited about it like they were last week, but that was reasonable. The fact that Miller and Jackson fucked up at this week’s challenge still haunted them and even though any of the other couples that went on the getaway date could be a match, they weren’t expecting to get a confirmed one today, which was hilarious.

Just some days ago, they all thought they would rock this week and actually have a great time, but in terms of playing the game, it didn’t seem to work at all. But, when Lincoln and Luna’s picture showed up on the screen, they all kinda had hope again.

"Lincoln, Luna, it’s time for you to go into the Truth Booth." Aryana said.

The two of them got up and everyone wished them good luck, before they made their way towards the Truth Booth. The host left them seconds later.

"Alright, let’s see if these two are a match." Monty said, kinda hopeful, yet frustrated.

Clarke had no idea why, but her stomach started tightening, as if there was a knot making its way inside her. She knew that this was a bad sign and from one second to another, she knew that they wouldn’t be a match. There was no reason for her to think so, but she just knew by the gut feeling.

The blonde tugged Murphy’s shirt a bit as he looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She just shook her head and he rolled his eyes, totally understanding what she was saying. He and all the others groaned when they saw what was written on the screen of the TV.

 _No match_.

Murphy turned his head back towards Clarke and titled his chin at her. "How did you know?"

She just shrugged her shoulders and laid her head on the armrest of the couch.

"Just had that feeling." she uttered.

He rolled his eyes again before he got up and threw a pillow at her, yet, he didn’t hide the smirk that was making its way on his face.

"Next time you should tell us so before we actually vote."

"Mhm." Murphy shook his head and laughed, waving her off as he walked away. Clarke closed her eyes, thinking of how this week could only get better.

Well, she didn’t expect much worse to happen.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 2, Day 12 – Friday. Los Angeles. 10 pm.

After spending the whole day with her roommates, Clarke was laying on the garden four poster bed, facing the sky, with Bellamy next to her, laying in the same position. It was the first time that they were alone again after they decided to stop hooking up and even now, she felt pretty comfortable around him. They didn’t talk, just laid there and tried to ignore the loud music that was coming from the inside of the mansion. Both of them weren’t in the mood for partying, so they decided to go outside, took a blanket and some drinks with them. That was fine.

Clarke didn’t want to interrupt the silence between them, but when she heard the song ‘Thong’ by Sisqó playing, she couldn’t help but laugh. Bellamy sat up almost immediately and looked down at her, shaking his head but didn’t hide the smirk on his own face.

"So, you think that’s funny, huh?" The blonde just laughed harder, holding her hand on her stomach while he laid down again, smirk turning into a smile.

As soon as she recovered from laughing so hard, she turned to lie sideways, arm under her head, facing him. He seemed to notice the change in her position, yet didn’t change his, but turned his head to the side, facing her.

"I don’t think it’s _funny_ , just reminds me of our first meeting." She told him.

Bellamy just snorted and looked back to the sky. "I’m not going to apologize for what happened, though."

"Good, because I don’t want you to," He turned his head back to her, curls falling into his eyes and Clarke really had to fight back the urge of pushing them out of the way, so, she distracted herself from doing so. "Thank you."

He was kinda confused and she could understand. She wasn’t really being specific, actually, she wasn’t at all, but she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.

"For what?" Now, she wanted to punch herself. She should’ve thought this through instead of just blurting stuff out like that.

Clarke sent him a light smile. "For opening up to m- us." Bellamy’s facial expression softened, but he turned his face back towards the sky anyway. She didn’t expect him to say anything, so she just moved to her back as well.

"Just felt like you’re the right people to open up to. We’ll see if it’s all worth it at the end."

The blonde faced him again, but he was still looking at the sky. She felt like this was taking a depressing turn, so she got up and stretched herself out a bit. Bellamy sat up himself, looking at her in confusion, but she just waved him off and took their empty cups.

"My turn." She didn’t wait for a response and just made her way inside. Clarke found Harper and Emori sitting on top of the kitchen island and walked towards them, before she grabbed a beer and a bottle of water for herself.

"Who’s that beer for?" Emori asked her.

"Bellamy."

"Uh-huh." Even though it was just a sound Harper made, she could hear the amusement in it. She just ignored it and threw the cups into the bin. "Whatcha doing out there?"  
  
Clarke groaned. "Talking. Like adults."

Emori snorted at that whereupon she sent her a glare which didn’t make it better. Her friend just started laughing.

"Emori is older than you, my dear, and I do believe she’s doing other things you should start doing." she cooed.

Clarke hit Harper’s arm who just joined in, laughing with Emori. The blonde shook her head and turned on her heels, making her way back outside. What she saw next made her drop the beer bottle on the floor, causing the two of them to break apart.

"What the _fuck_ , _Finn_!" Clarke yelled as she made her way towards him and Raven. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She just witnessed Finn and Raven making out on one of the couch lounges outside, even though he told her that there was nothing going on between them. In comparison to Finn, her friend seemed to be more confused about the whole situation whilst Finn had that worried expression on his face. He got up from where he was sitting and held his hands up in surrender.

"Clarke, I-" The blonde didn’t let him finish his sentence, just poured the water she had in her hand over him. Raven jumped up from the lounge and turned towards her only to shove Clarke away a bit.

"Clarke, what the hell!?"

"Damn, right! What the hell is this!?" she motioned between her friend and Finn. Raven seemed to be totally lost and threw her hands up in the air.

"Gosh, we never ended things okay!? So, now what’s your problem? Clarke, just go!"

Clarke couldn’t believe what was happening right now. So, Finn didn’t just lie to her, but also to Raven, who had no idea that anything had happened between her and Finn. The blonde placed her hand on her neck, getting disgusted by the thought of how Finn told her he wasn’t a cheater. She wanted to throw up.

She took a step backwards and shook her head. There was no way she was going to cry because of him, she wouldn’t do that to herself again, but she needed to tell Raven the truth, because she knew Finn wasn’t going to do it.

"Clarke, please-"

"Shut the fuck up, Finn! I am _disgusted_ by you!" She turned to Raven who was just looking back and forth between them. "I’m sorry, Rae, I had no idea that there was still something going on between you two, because this _dumbass_ never told me that!"

It didn’t take her friend long to put pieces together and when she did, she only turned around to slap Finn’s cheek, making him stumble back a little bit.

"You’re a _whore_ , Finn! Don’t _ever_ talk to me again!" Raven was about to leave, but Clarke still wanted to know if they were on the same page, but as soon as she grabbed her by the arm, her friend pulled it away and turned around to her, sending her a glare.

Before Clarke could even realize what was happening, Raven poured her own drink over Clarke. "Don’t think you’re any way better! I hate you, _I hate all of you_!" With that, Raven went inside, leaving her outside all wet, ashamed and disgusted at once.

What the hell just happened?

Seconds later, Clarke got pulled into someone’s side and dragged not only inside, but also upstairs. She didn’t really care who it was because she was processing what happened a few seconds ago. Not only did she see Finn kissing Raven, even though he told her that things were over between them, but also lost Raven as a friend, well, kinda.

She had no idea how all of this happened in not even five minutes and although she told herself to never cry because of some cheating asshole again, she started crying. Whoever let go off her, only to close the door, pulled her into a hug. She didn’t care about it anymore, she just let all the tears out and grabbed the hem of the shirt the person was wearing, leaving tears all over it.

Clarke didn’t want to feel like this again. She never wanted to feel like this again, yet she was here and it was even worse. She came to this show to find love and have a good time, but everything just seemed to crash together. Why did she come here in the first place? She should’ve known that it wouldn’t end good. She was so stupid. So fucking stupid.

She had no idea how long she was actually crying, until there were no tears left and she was almost falling asleep in a standing position.

"Want to go to sleep?" _Of course_. Clarke let out a watery laugh by the sound of Bellamy’s voice, but nodded anyway, not wanting to look up at him. "Lay down already, I’ll be right back." She nodded again and let go off him, walking towards his bed as he made his way into the closet.

She sat down on it and waited for him to come back as she tried hard not to start crying again. Luckily, he came back just seconds later with a shirt in his hands. Bellamy handed it to her and she took it out of his hand, sending him a light smile.

"You can stay here, I’ll tell Miller to go stay with Jackson." Clarke didn’t want to take Miller’s place, but on the other side, she knew that sharing a bed with Raven was probably worse, so she just nodded at him.

"If you need anything, just call me, yeah?" She nodded again, not able to say a word. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she placed her hand on top of his, laying her head on their locked hands. "Get some sleep."

Clarke took her head and hand away again and sent him a light smile before he made his way out of the room. She sat there for a few minutes before she took off her clothes and wore his shirt. It was as big as her sleeping shirts usually were, so it was fine. She just ignored the fact of how not only the shirt, but also the pillow smelled like Bellamy when she laid down under the blanket.

The blonde had no idea how long she kept crying but at one point, she fell asleep. She could only pray that the next week would be better.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 2, Day 14 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 9 pm.

The second Matching Ceremony was about to start, and Clarke had no idea what to expect from this one. After what happened on Friday, she wasn’t really in the mood for it, but she knew there was no way to miss the ceremony, so she pulled herself together.

This time, she decided to wear a navy lace culotte jumpsuit with her hair pulled together into a high, sleek ponytail and black pumps. Octavia decided to fit in with her and wore a red satin plunge culotte jumpsuit but left hair down and combined her outfit with black pumps as well. Emori thought it was better for her to keep it basic tonight, she didn’t want to jump Murphy again, since she still wasn’t able to walk. So, she just wore some jeans, a white crop top and matching shoes. None of them had any idea of what Raven was wearing, since she switched up rooms with Sasha.

Clarke didn’t know how to handle this whole situation. Sure, she understood why the brunette was mad at her as well as Finn, but in the end, she had no idea that Finn was not only playing with her, but also Raven. And the fact that he promised her that he wouldn’t be like her ex-boyfriend… every time Clarke thought about all the things he said to her, she wanted to throw up. She was disgusted on a whole new level she had ever been in life.

But, that’s how things were at the moment. Raven and Sasha switched rooms and Harper was nice enough to let Clarke have her own bed and shared hers with Sasha. The girl was nice. She got along with them, even though all of them noticed that she was holding herself back from giving too much information about herself, but that was fine. They didn’t force her to interact with them any further and gave her space. Clarke could only be glad about her friends that were still talking to her. They knew she was played, too, and decided to give Raven some time for herself, only so everything would be fine again in less than a week, but now, they had to attend the Matching Ceremony.

Since the guys and Lexa would pick their perfect match this week, the other girls, including Jackson, sat down on the seats and waited for the rest of the group to enter the winter garden. Aryana was already standing behind the podium and opened the ceremony with welcoming the guys and Lexa.

"Ladies and gentlemen? Welcome the rest of your group!"

Clarke and everyone else turned their heads around to welcome the others who stepped onto the opposite side of the stage. Her eyes swept over Finn first. He did look good, though, even if she wanted to hate him for what he did to her, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to start unnecessary drama between the two of them, so she told herself to just keep being nice to him if she had to interact with him. Other than that, she would just ignore him.

The next person she noticed was Bellamy. The blonde really started to ask herself how it was possible to be this handsome every _fucking_ day. Right now, he was wearing a navy Henley shirt paired with black cargo pants, again, and some matching sneakers. She had no idea if the highlight of his whole look were his glasses or his hair, or his arms, but she knew she had to stop thinking about that, so, she turned her attention to someone else.

 _Lexa_.

The girl was wearing a raine dusty white lace panel tiered bodycon dress and it looked _amazing_ on her. Her make-up was a bit too strong for her liking, but Clarke thought it was kinda giving Lexa _that_ look. She could only imagine how strong, self-assured and independent she was.

Clarke turned her attention back to the host, who was now really starting the ceremony.

"Well, this is your second Matching Ceremony. Let’s just hope that you guys get more beams this time than you actually got last week." Aryana clapped her hands together. "Alright, let’s just get started. Nathan, you go first."

"Get it, Miller!" Roan shouted from where he was standing as Miller made his way towards the podium. As soon as he got there, Aryana titled her chin up.

"So, are you still disappointed for not winning the getaway challenge?" Miller just snorted at that and shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, sure, but we have eight weeks left and I believe that I’ll get into the Truth Booth sooner or later." The host nodded and motioned into Clarke’s direction.

"I don’t think we need to ask who you pick, right?" Miller laughed and shook his head before he turned around and waved Jackson to him. He got up immediately as the rest of the group started clapping and cheering for them. They placed their hands on the monitor and sat down on Jackson’s seat after that.

Lincoln was next and picked Octavia, unsurprisingly. Roan went to the podium seconds later and chose Echo to lock their hands on the screen. As expected, Monty, who followed, picked Sasha as his match.

Aryana called up Lexa next, who made her way towards her right after that.

"I have to say, you look real good tonight, Lexa." The girl sent her a light smile, which the host took as a response. "So, who are _you_ picking for your second ceremony?"

Lexa turned around and sent Clarke a light smile. She was surprised. Clarke really didn’t see that coming but got up anyway and made her way towards Lexa and Aryana.

"I have to say I didn’t see that coming." Lexa didn’t seem to want to respond to that, so Clarke just replied herself.

"I actually didn’t see that coming either…" she explained.

Aryana just nodded at the two of them and motioned them to place their hands on the screen. They went to sit down soon after that before the host called up the next person.

"Bellamy, you’re next." Clarke turned her head around to see him walking down to the host. "You were kinda inconspicuous this week… but not really discreet." The blonde furrowed her brows a little bit, trying to figure out what was going on and it didn’t seem like he knew himself.

"I have no idea what you’re talking about." He assured.

The host laughed a little but pointed over to Raven, which confused Clarke even more. "I guess sometimes you guys forget that there are cameras in this house: in the living room, kitchen area, the hallways, outside, even in the Boom-Boom room. You’re lucky that we don’t show everything on this show, I guess we should respect a little privacy."

Now, Clarke wanted to die. Did this mean people actually would see what they were doing in the living room a week ago? Or would they cut that out? She shook her head lightly, trying to collect herself again and listen to what Bellamy was replying.

"Well, I’m very aware of that." He said confidently whereupon Aryana laughed a little bit harder but just motioned him to pick the person he thought would be his match. Bellamy turned around and titled his chin up towards Raven. "I pick Raven as my match for tonight."

As Raven made her way to the front, Clarke got even more confused. It wasn’t like she didn’t think they could be a perfect match, but she thought that Raven just randomly picked him last week, because she picked Finn. Well, didn’t seem to be like this, but still, she thought it was kinda weird.

"Hey," the blonde turned her head around to face Lexa who looked slightly confused. "You fine?" Clarke nodded in response as she sent her a smile before turning her attention towards the podium again, where now Wells was standing. He picked Maya as his perfect match and placed their hands on the monitor. Jasper followed after that and chose Harper as his match for their second ceremony. Zeke was next and decided to pick Luna before they sat down on his seat together.

Unsurprisingly, Murphy chose Emori and when she stopped next to him, they kissed first before locking their hands on the screen. God, Clarke could smell them being in love from where she was sitting.

Finn and Costia were the last couple that placed their hands on the monitor and went back to sit down, before the real part of the ceremony began.

"Alright, guys, here we go. Let’s see if you can top last week." With that the lights turned off and the panic started to rise in everyone.

After this week, Clarke had no idea if they could actually get more beams than in their first one, especially by looking at the couples around her. A lot of people switched up, and there weren’t much pairs sitting together that were last week. She could only hope that everything would go fine after that horrible weekend. They needed success to roll it all up.

 _One beam_.

Everyone started clapping and the blonde could hear Miller yelling ‘Damn yes’ from his seat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you got one beam! No blackout!"

No blackout. This was good; This was amazing. They would be able to handle everything but a blackout, so Clarke was glad that they ended up with one beam, even though she still had hope that there would be another one.

"How many do you think we’ll be able to get?" Lexa whispered to her, not taking her gaze off the beams in front of them.

"I just want one more."

And they got one more. _Two beams_.

Just like last week, everyone got on their feet and clapped their hands together, but not for too long, because all they wanted was to get a third beam. There had to be another one. The whole group was silent, waiting for the next beam to light up.

"Jesus, just light up." Clarke spun her head around to look at Bellamy who had his arm wrapped around Raven. She smiled lightly to herself before she looked back at the beams.

 _Why was it taking so long_?

The light went on again and Aryana turned back to them. Clarke couldn’t believe that this really happened. They lost one perfect match from last week and had no confirmed one now. This was going to be a disaster.

"You guys got two beams today… I can’t say that I’m disappointed, because it’s still good. Go home, figure out which one of the couples that were sitting together last week and this week, and get one of them in the Truth Booth next week. We’ll see you at the getaway challenge."

The group clapped one time again before they made their way back towards the mansion. They could only hope that next week would be better for all of them. Good challenge, confirmed perfect match, more beams at the next ceremony and hopefully, no more drama.

But, the drama was just starting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and week two: check.
> 
> what do you guys say? how are things going from here on? anything in mind? as always, comments are loved! fill me in on your thoughts! 
> 
> see you next week! xoxo


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick note before jumping into this chapter: i want to thank you guys for all the lovely words you're telling me! as my first multi-chap fic in english it makes me happy reading how invested you guys are! i'm always kinda anxious about posting, but reading your comments after i post always make me feel a lot better. so, lots of love to you guys!
> 
> now... enjoy!

Week 3, Day 16 – Tuesday. Los Angeles. 1 pm.

Clarke let herself drop onto Lexa’s bed the minute they entered the room. The whole group had a late breakfast today and after finishing eating, Clarke just felt too full to be able to do anything productive. Lexa offered to just spend time together in her room, since all the other girls she shared her room with planned on staying in the garden, sunbathing themselves.

The blonde didn’t mind spending her time with Lexa, at all. They started getting to know each other on Monday, because Clarke just wanted Sunday to end, and Lexa not only accepted, but also respected her decision, telling her that there would be enough time to talk with each other.

And now she was here, laying on Lexa’s bed while the other girl was doing her hair in front of the mirror. Lexa turned around to her, as soon as she was done with it, and sent her a light smile, which Clarke returned easily.

"So," she started as she sat down next to her. "any other plans for later?"

Clarke shook her head and sat up. "No, not really. As far as I know we have-" Lexa cut her off.

" _We_?" That’s when Clarke remembered that Lexa had no idea about her bond with her friends. She wasn’t sure if they wanted to keep it to themselves, but she didn’t think there was anything wrong with telling her.

"Oh… I just got pretty close to some other participants and we kinda hang out with each other the whole time now."

Lexa nodded slowly and Clarke knew she was taking all of this in. She had no clue why that mattered so much to her and as much as she wanted to fight back the urge to ask her if she had a problem with her being close to them, she couldn’t.

"Is that okay?"

Actually, it was stupid to ask her that. Clarke could decide on her own who she wanted to spend her time with, but on the other hand she didn’t want to stop playing the game, only to be able to hang out with her friends. They all needed to do their own thing, finding their match, and that was what she was doing.

The other girl shook her head and smiled at her. "No, it’s fine. Obviously, you can form friendships," she trailed off for some seconds before she continued her sentence. "But, do you still want to spend time with my girls today? Just for today, I want you to get closer to them, too."

It was weird. Not the fact that Lexa wanted her to spend time with her _friends_ , but more because they really considered other people on this Dating show their friends. Back in New York, she wouldn’t have expected this to happen at all, but here she was; Building friendships with people that were living all at different places. But, if she was being honest, she didn’t mind it. It was nice knowing that more could develop out of this show than just finding ones match and hoping that you would really fall in love with them.

"I would love to get to know them, too." Lexa returned her smile and leaned towards her, but before anything could happen, the door opened. Both of them spun their heads around and for a second Clarke’s jaw dropped.

It was _Raven_.

The brunette just raised one of her eyebrows at Lexa before she looked at Clarke.

"Hey, can we talk for a minute?"

Clarke looked between her friend and Lexa but nodded as soon as she made her decision. She gave Lexa a light smile.

"I’ll be back in a minute."

The other girl smiled back, although Clarke knew that she didn’t want her to leave, but Raven actually made a step towards her. She wouldn’t let the possibility of being okay with her again slip out of her hands.

The blonde closed the door behind her as soon as she was out of the room, Raven standing in front of her.

"Do you want us to go somewhere else or do you mind talking here?" Clarke asked.

Her friend just shrugged her shoulders. "We can stay here, it’s not going to take us long." Clarke nodded.

Sure, it wasn’t going to take them long, especially not if Raven was only here to tell her to go fuck herself. She just wanted everything to be like before the whole Finn drama took place. Sometimes she hated herself for being so stupid, not realizing that Raven and Finn were still a thing. She should’ve known; That’s something friends were supposed to know, right? Did anybody else know? No, everyone was surprised by the whole situation. Harper, Emori, Octavia… they all didn’t know about them keeping their relationship secret either.

They sat down on the floor next to each other, not far away from the door. The situation was awkward.

Clarke wasn’t sure if she had to say something first or if she should wait for Raven to speak. After all, she knew she had to apologize to her a second time, but did her friend even wanted to hear that? An apology? She didn’t know, but she was definitely going to find out.

"Look," the brunette started as she turned around, facing her. "I want to apologize for overreacting and not listening to you. All of this could’ve been avoided if I wasn’t that angry at you… I know it’s not really your fault, either, you didn’t know about Finn and me whilst Bellamy and I were already suspicious that something was going on between you and-"

Clarke cut her off, confusion written all over her face. "Wait, what? Bellamy?" Raven waved her off, smile plastered on her face.

"Uhm, yeah. He was the only one who knew that I was still in a relationship with Finn… he told me that you would never do something that would hurt me. Guess in the moment I found out about you and Finn I remembered his words and, well… it hurt, but it’s fine now."

The blonde had no clue what she should process first. So, Bellamy did know about Raven and Finn the whole time, but didn’t tell her to stop getting closer to Finn? Okay, he probably didn’t notice, since they always hid somewhere in the house, so nobody would see them, except for the Matching Ceremony. She should’ve known…

But, then again, he was the one who took care of her after the whole drama on Friday; Let her sleep in his bed, gave her his shirt (which she didn’t give back yet, along with the other shirt and sweatpants he gave her once. She didn’t know why, but somehow, she didn’t want to, they were comfy) and even when he came back in the middle of the night and laid down next to her, he didn’t tell her to go away. Clarke didn’t understand why he was being so nice to her, although he was on Ravens’ side… kinda?

"Clarke?" Said person fixed her gaze on her friend again. She just shook her head and sent her a light smile.

"I was just thinking… anyway, you don’t have to be sorry. You had all the right to keep it to yourself… somehow. I mean, you guys knew you weren’t a perfect match, but kept your relationship going, so that’s understandable. I just want you to know that I _really_ didn’t know. He told me you ended things, that he would give me time to tell it to you as soon as I felt ready. I don’t know what I can even say, except for that I am sorry about what happened." Clarke explained.

Clarke saw Raven nodding slightly before she lifted her head to look at her again. The blonde was surprised to see her friend smiling, but on the other hand, that only meant that everything was going to be fine again, and that was all she wanted.

Raven got up and offered her hand out for Clarke to grab it, which she did. The brunette helped her up before she pulled her into a hug.

"I’m glad we worked this out… I really felt bad for yelling and ignoring you."

Clarke pulled back and shook her head. "Don’t feel bad about it, seriously, it’s all good between us."

And she knew it was true. At the beginning of the first week they told themselves no guy would get in between their friendship and they overcame the Finn situation. From now on, they would probably overcome anything that could come next.

"So, we’re all outside at the moment, though, you come with me?" Raven asked.

Clarke bit her lip and looked anywhere but at her friend. Sure, she wanted to spend her time with her friends again, especially because it was the first time that they could all be together again, but she already promised Lexa to spend time with her and the other participants. She could only hope that Raven would understand that she wasn’t able to go with her.

"Uh, actually I promised Lexa to spend time with her and her friends today…"

Raven furrowed her brows slightly, just for a second, but Clarke was still able to see it, before she set up a smile and nodded.

"That’s cool," was all she said before she turned on her heels and walked towards the stairs but turned around again. "Have fun. Join us whenever you want." Clarke nodded, smiling at her as her friend made her way downstairs.

The blonde knew that she didn’t expect that answer, but she really wanted to keep her promise to Lexa. She would spend time with her friends tomorrow.

# # # # # # # # # #

"Clarke’s not coming."

Bellamy spun his head around to look at Raven who just walked out of the house, closing the door behind her. _La Familia_ was spending their time outside in the garden. Bellamy was currently sitting on the couch lounge in between Roan and Murphy, feet placed on top of the table that was in between them and Miller and Harper who were sitting on the lounge across from them. Maya, Jasper and Monty were spending their time inside of the pool, swimming and splashing each other with water. Zeke, Lincoln and Octavia were sitting on another lounge to their left, with Emori across from them. Raven joined Emori on the couch as soon as she made her way to the group.

"What do you mean Clarke isn’t coming?" Octavia asked in confusion. "Did she not accept your apology?"

"She did accept my apology, but guess she prefers spending her time with Lexa and her girls."

Bellamy raised one eyebrow at her whereupon she just shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against the couch. He had no idea why Clarke wouldn’t spend her time with them after everything was fine again, but since she was with Lexa, he knew that she was only trying to find her perfect match. They couldn’t blame her for doing that, so he just shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the back of the couch himself. But, not everyone in the group was sharing this opinion.

"I don’t get it. Why is she putting some random girl that _could_ be her match above us? Her friends? Her _family_."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and tilted his head to the side, looking at his sister.

"You just said it. She’s trying to find her perfect match, which we aren’t." Murphy, who was next to him, snorted which made him turn his head towards him, keeping his facial expression serious, same as the tone of his voice. "What? Did you figure out who your match is?"

"Well, it’s not like I’m not working on it. And I think I’ve made better progress than you have, big Blake."

"Oh, shut up, Murphy." Bellamy uttered.

"He might not be wrong with that, since" he swept his eyes over to Roan who was already looking at him. The older one raised an eyebrow at him. "You kinda lost the one person who could be your match."

If Bellamy didn’t notice that everyone else had been talking about different things, he for sure noticed now how everything around him turned silent. What did Roan mean ‘You kinda lost the one person who could be your match’? What was that supposed to mean?

"Don’t give me that look, Blake. You’re not stupid. Sometimes, you just like to act like you are." Roan added before he turned his attention back to the book he had been reading, but Bellamy wasn’t done yet, so he snatched the book out of his hands, making Roan turned towards him again. "Can I help you?"

"What the fuck do you mean ‘lost the one person who could be my match’? If you’re talking about Clarke, then you’re completely wrong." Roan just laughed at that while shaking his head.

Bellamy was done with it. There was no reason for Roan to keep teasing him and Clarke for what happened and what he saw, and that he still was convinced of them being a match was just ridiculous. He had no clue when the other guy was finally going to understand and accept that, but he wouldn’t just stand there and say nothing against it.

He leaned back against the back of the couch, head placed on the armrest, eyes closed. They couldn’t force Clarke to spend her time with them, so they had to accept that, easy. She wouldn’t abandon them, he knew that and hopefully the others knew too.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 3, Day 17 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 11 pm.

It was challenge day, one day passed and Clarke still hadn’t shown up. Not in the evening of Tuesday, when the group had spent their time together, nor when they decided to go to bed.

Bellamy wished he didn’t mind her staying with Lexa and her friends, but it did bother him. It was only one day, there was nothing to worry about, but still, it _hurt_. It hurt because he finally opened up to people, to people he didn’t even know that well, yet, here she was abandoning them, not even speaking to them when all the participants were downstairs, not looking at her _familia_ once. It was disappointing.

He finished changing into training clothes and walked out of the closet just as the door to the room hit the wall. Bellamy turned his head towards it, seeing the girls enter the room, looking upset and irritated, but also kinda furious… well, that only counted for Raven and his sister.

Octavia didn’t waste time to let herself fall on his and Miller’s bed before she pressed a pillow against her face and screamed into it. Raven paced up and down the room while the rest of the girls just made themselves comfortable.

"What’s wrong?" As always Bellamy was the one who asked, since he took care of _everyone_. They called him a mother hen because of it and even if he tried to disagree with that, he knew that he was, but only for good reasons. No one questioned him and just got along with it.

Bellamy dropped down on the bed next to Zeke, who handed him a bottle of water. He took it gratefully and titled his chin to Raven, motioning her to talk. And, as if she couldn’t wait anymore, the brunette turned towards everyone, stomping her foot and throwing her hands in the air.

"So, apparently Clarke _is_ a bitch! She’s not talking to _any_ of us and guess what," she stopped talking and waited a few seconds before she continued speaking. "She didn’t sleep in our room. She wasn’t lying in bed next to me and I woke up four times this night so…" Raven trailed off again, only to let out a growl.

Murphy got up and walked towards her to pull her into a hug, mumbling something to her that Bellamy couldn’t understand from where he was sitting. But, he knew that Murphy was only trying to calm her down and even though he could imagine that some of the others thought he should comfort Octavia, he knew exactly that he shouldn’t. Not when she was mad.

"What’s the plan then?" Monty questioned whereupon Lincoln shrugged his shoulders.

Everyone was affected by Clarke leaving them for someone else, even though they only formed the group a week ago. Bellamy could understand, but right now there wasn’t much to do other than letting her do whatever the hell she wanted. But, he seemed to be the only one who thought so.

"We should talk to her… that’s the only way we can figure out if she’s doing this intentionally or not."

Jasper was right. She could be doing this unintentionally, yet, it didn’t make sense. Why would she ignore them, not talking or looking at them and sitting as far away from them as she could. _God_ , all of this would be easier if he, no they, just knew why she was avoiding them.

"I’m with Jasper," Zeke uttered. "She could-" Octavia sat up and cut him off.

" _Unintentionally_?" Octavia laughed hysterically. "Yeah, y’all wish she would be doing this unintentionally. She doesn’t even look at us with her ass." She laid back on her back, keeping her gaze on the wall. 

Bellamy placed the water bottle on the nightstand next to him before running his hand over his face. All of this was a mess. Everyone had different opinions on this whole situation and he knew he had to decide what they should do. Anybody else than him could decide, but right now, there were thirteen of them and there was no way he could keep avoiding speaking his mind.

"But, this really makes no sense?" Harper said, looking at Raven as she spoke. "When you guys weren’t talking to each other, she was still with us…"

Everyone got silent. They wanted to figure things out; They didn’t like this situation at all. The group could feel that Clarke was missing, even if there were a lot of people, probably too many for others to understand. But, it was how it was and they had to come up with something. _Bellamy_ had to come up with something.

He sighed and faced his friends again. "Okay," he started, turning everyone’s attention on him. "Let’s worry about that later today, yeah? The challenge is in less than an hour and we should focus on that. If nothing changes until tomorrow evening, I’ll speak to her, fine?"

Bellamy looked around, trying to find any kind of reaction from his friends that showed him they were against it. Except from Raven and Octavia, who were still mad at Clarke and probably wanted to confront her just now, everyone seemed to agree, either nodding or motioning him in another way that they agreed. He was fine with that. He would talk to her if things wouldn’t get better. Hopefully, he would be able to stay calm and not freak out or yell at her. But, he knew he was too impulsive for that. He could only hope that everything was going to be fine again.

# # # # # # # # # #

12 pm.

"Welcome to your second challenge!" Aryana uttered.

Bellamy clapped his hands along with everyone else. Miller was standing to his right and Jasper to his left. Looking to the girls, standing on the right side, he was able to see his friends standing in the front row next to each other… except for Clarke. She was in the second row, next to Lexa and Sasha, focused on the host in front of them. He turned his head to the front too before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no time for getting mad now, so he had to calm himself down.

The moment he felt someone else’s gaze on him, he opened them again and spun his head around, meeting Miller’s gaze.

"You alright?" Bellamy asked his friend who snorted and shook his head, tilting his chin at him.

"Stop worrying about all of us and take care of yourself, Bellamy." He just rolled his eyes and turned his head back to Aryana. "Seriously… I saw how you looked over at Clarke. You said it yourself, we would wait until tomorrow evening. So… get your shit together, man." This time Bellamy couldn’t help it but smile a little. Miller was right, he should stop worrying about everything and start focusing on himself, although, this wasn’t even the reason why he was here.

"Does anyone have questions?"

Bellamy and Miller exchanged a look, smirk plastered on both of their faces. They really talked the whole time while Aryana was explaining how the challenge worked. Well, they were kinda fucked, but thankfully they had their friends.

The older one tapped Monty’s shoulder who was standing in front of him. Said person turned around, facing him with a confused look. But, before he could say anything, Miller jumped in.

"What is the challenge about?" Monty furrowed his brows lightly and Bellamy thought for a second that he wouldn’t tell them, which was kinda unlikely to be honest. Luckily, Monty just walked backwards, situating himself between him and Miller as he kept looking at the host.

"The challenge is called priorities and this time we need to do the work." He pointed at the podium in front of Aryana that had a buzzer on it. "Aryana formed pairs already and she’ll ask us a question, “What is the most important thing for each girl”, and well, Jackson, in a relationship. You get three different answers and have to find out which one is the correct one."

Monty stopped talking when Aryana started calling out the pairs. Roan and Emori. Jasper and Raven. Zeke and Maya. Wells and Luna. Murphy and Clarke. Finn and Octavia. Miller and Monty. Lincoln and Sasha. Jackson and Harper. Lexa and Costia. Bellamy and Echo.

Bellamy didn’t know how they made up these pairs, but there were probably some perfect matches, too. They only had to figure out who that was, but there was no time for this either.

"Anyway, if you answer wrong, the one you’re standing with at the front has to pour ice cold water on you. Not that bad, it’s still alright, though. Oh, and the getaway will be a day at Disneyland!" Monty continued, before he stepped into the first row again.

Well, Disneyland wasn’t Bellamy’s thing at all, so he didn’t have to win the challenge.

As soon as Monty was situated in the spot in front of them again, he and Miller filled the spot between them.

"How is Finn and Octavia supposed to work if they go on a date together?" Miller asked quietly. Bellamy looked over to his sister, only to find her narrowing her eyes, looking at no one in particular. She would make Finn feel incredibly bad, he knew that, but on the other hand, the most important thing for Octavia wasn’t that hard to guess. He couldn’t decide if his sister or Finn was fucked more.

"Alright, guys, let’s start off with Roan and Emori then!"

# # # # # # # # # #

12.35 pm.

Well, Bellamy couldn’t deny that he didn’t know that he was going to get wet. He had no idea what Echo’s priority was and actually, he didn’t care about that either, whilst Echo did. He fucked up and she hated it. She wanted to go on a date with him, badly, and even though that was nice to hear, he didn’t want to win the getaway with her. So, he was glad, but, that was the only thing he was happy about. Well, kinda.

He liked the fact that his friends were able to win the challenge and get out of the house for a bit. Zeke figured that Maya’s most important thing in a relationship was trust. That wasn’t really hard to guess, anyway. Roan guessed Emori’s priority, too. For her, communication was really important.

But, as if life wasn’t bad enough for his sister right now, Finn actually knew the right answer to Octavia’s priority. It wasn’t anything big, just that she wanted to be happy and he could understand. After everything that happened to them in the past, especially the years before he was sent into jail, he just wanted her to be happy, too. Although, he knew that Finn wasn’t the guy for that and he really wished that he wouldn’t touch her in anyway.

The whole group made their way back to the house, and Bellamy was thinking of nothing else than taking a hot shower and changing into some fresh clothes. After all the drama, he needed a minute for himself, to gather his thoughts and decide how things should continue from now on, and a shower was just the right way to do so.

As soon as they got back to the mansion, Bellamy took his toiletries and a towel before he made his way into the bathroom. Luckily, he was the first one since everybody else wanted to rest a little bit first.

Bellamy undressed and got into the shower, turning on the water to the right temperature. He placed one hand against the wall and ducked his head down as he closed his eyes and let the water run over his body. His mind was a mess. There were so many things he had to think about and he knew Octavia would tell him to talk to someone about them, but he didn’t want to, and he wouldn’t. Sure, although his friends didn’t seem to expect him to talk about the whole prison stuff, he knew that he had to open up to them more. He sighed and shook his head, there were other things to worry about.

_Clarke_. Only by thinking of her, his breathing quickened. He was _mad_. He couldn’t believe that she really abandoned him and everyone else in their group, especially after he told them a bit of his past. She did thank him for opening up, yet she wasn’t here. Bellamy tried to figure out why exactly she was treating them like this. Weren’t they enough for her? Did they scare her away by being so open to each other from the beginning? He had no idea, and he wouldn’t find out either if there was no way for them to talk about this.

He had to let it go. There was still plenty of time for her to show them that they weren’t right, that she didn’t do it intentionally and he only hoped that it was the truth. But, that didn’t change the fact that he still hadn’t gotten any closer to another girl in this house. Sure, there were Harper, Raven, and Emori who could be his match, but there were other girls he didn’t talk to yet, and he had to change that. He wasn’t quite sure who should be his match. Emori was probably Murphy’s, that was for sure. The possibility of Maya and him being one was already at point zero, he knew that. Clarke wasn’t his match either, hundred percent and Raven… well they sat next to each other at the first two ceremonies so they actually could be one.

Damn, this was harder than he thought. Bellamy would definitely tell Monty and Raven to use their brilliant brains to start figuring out who was who’s match. So far, they didn’t have one confirmed and week three was almost over too. He snorted and shook his head before he started washing his body and hair. It would be hard but they would eventually make it.

Some minutes later, which felt like an eternity because Bellamy really took his time, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Just when he was about to grab his towel, he saw someone standing next to the door out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head around, only to shut his eyes again, taking a deep breath before he opening them.

Bellamy tried to keep his voice as casual as possible and thankfully, it worked.

"Got lost again, princess?"

He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist, never tearing his eyes from her. Meanwhile, Clarke was kneading her own hands, showing him that she was nervous about something. He raised one eyebrow at her, but let it go almost immediately, only to walk towards the counter to get his lotion.

"Can we talk, though?" Clarke said as she made her way towards him, stopping right next to where he was standing.

Bellamy looked into the mirror, ready to meet her eyes, but she was turned towards him. He turned around and leaned his back against the counter while also facing her. He waited for a few seconds to see if she would continue talking, but she didn’t. Clarke was waiting for him to say that he was ready to listen first, so he nodded his chin at her, conveying that she should continue. And she did.

"I just wanted to say that I’m sorry…" She looked him in the eyes, but only for a second before she looked anywhere else but him. "I got caught up in my own bubble… kinda. I spent more time with Lexa and her friends than with you guys and you’re my family. I should’ve told you that I would stay with her for a while and it wasn’t fair from my side."

Bellamy sighed and run a hand over his face, taking in what she just said. He didn’t know if she actually understood what she had been doing the whole time, but this apology wasn’t going to make anything better.

"Look," he started, and Clarke looked up from the floor, just to meet his eyes. "I do want to believe that you didn’t do it intentionally, but how do you explain not looking at us nor talking to us once? Plus, you didn’t even spend the night at your room? How do you think the girls feel about that?"

Clarke raked her fingers through her hair as she sighed. "I can imagine how they are feeling… how all of you are feeling and, as I said, I’m sorry for that. I never did that on purpose. I guess I was fixed too much on Lexa and…" she trailed off and Bellamy started to feel bad.

He really wanted to stay mad at her, hate her for what she did to every one of them, but he couldn’t. And the way she was speaking, so softly, almost like a whisper, just showed him that she was sorry for real.

"It’s okay," he said, turning around so he was really facing her this time. "But, the only way you can fix this is with spending time with us again. Apologize, especially to Raven, Emori, and my sister." He stopped for a few seconds before he continued speaking. "Clarke… you didn’t even greet us when you passed us in the hallway or met us in the kitchen. Start with things like that first. Make it better. Nothing else will help."

Clarke sent him a light smile before she chuckled, looking down on the floor again.

"What?" Bellamy asked. She just waved him off as she looked at him again, smiling even more now.

"So, I’m still part of _La Familia_?" He parted his lips to say something but she was faster. And if he was being honest, he didn’t expect that one.

"Am I still your princess?" Bellamy blinked a few times, taking in what she just said before he begun smirking. Clarke widened her eyes in response, but only for a few seconds, and shook her head. "You know what, forget it." The blonde was about to turn around and leave, but this wasn’t done yet, not for Bellamy.

So, he grabbed her by her forearm and spun her around, making her face him again. She met him with a confused look on her face whereas he just smiled lightly and let go off her.

"Yeah, you’re still my princess." She returned his smile and got a little bit closer to him, but then the door of the bathroom swung open and she turned around to look at who it was.

Bellamy could imagine how Clarke’s facial expression was like the minute he saw the person standing in the doorframe. It was Finn.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" He asked, with a warning tone in his voice as he looked directly at Bellamy. Said person raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Nah, you’re not." Finn narrowed his eyes at him, making Bellamy roll his. Bellamy stepped in front of Clarke who kept staring at Finn for a few seconds before she turned her attention to him. "After the Truth Booth we’ll hang out again, you can come if you want."

Clarke nodded before she sent him a light smile and made her way out of the bathroom, passing Finn without looking back. And, since Bellamy didn’t want to waste any more time with Finn in one room, he just took his stuff and walked towards the door, ready to leave the bathroom, but Finn stopped him by standing in the way.

Bellamy titled his head to the side, keeping his facial expression as annoyed as he could.

"What do you want, Finn?" Said person let out a chuckle and nudged his nose with his finger. The younger one stepped closer to Bellamy and he knew he wanted to intimidate him, but it didn’t work at all. Actually, he thought it was quite funny.

"Stop laughing, Blake, and keep your hands away from Clarke!"

Bellamy just snorted and held his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, loverboy. Sure, I’ll do what you’re telling me." He pushed Finn out of the way and made his way out of the bathroom, never looking back, either, just as Clarke did before. He had no idea why Finn was still trying to hit on her, but it wasn’t his business. It hadn’t been before and it wouldn’t be now.

# # # # # # # # # #

4 pm.

The voting this week went as quick as it was last week, even though none of the group was sure who they should pick, especially not _La Familia_. Everyone, except for Finn, was part of their group and they wanted both Zeke and Maya, and Roan and Emori to get into the Truth Booth. Yet, they all agreed that they believed Emori was Murphy’s perfect match, so it was kinda clear that they were going to vote Zeke and Maya into the Booth. And, they did.

Bellamy paired up with Miller while Raven and Harper went to vote together. Monty and Jasper followed right after them before it was Murphy and Lincoln’s turn. The group wasn't surprised when Clarke showed up with Lexa to vote next. They voted for Emori and Roan. Costia and Sasha decided to vote them into the Truth Booth, too. Jackson and Wells, just like Luna and Echo, picked Finn and Octavia.

As soon as everyone picked the couple they thought would be a perfect match, the whole group went their separate ways again, but still, they were all downstairs. Wells and Jackson were outside in the garden while Clarke was spending her time with Lexa, Costia, Echo and Luna. _Again_ , abandoning her friends and this time Raven wasn’t the only one who had enough.

While Bellamy was preparing dinner with Murphy’s help, the rest of their group was situated around them, either sitting on the bar stools in front of them, or on the large dinner table across from the kitchen island. Harper was sitting on top of the table in between Miller and Raven. Both of the girls seemed clearly annoyed and exhausted, seeing Clarke sitting next to her new group of friends.

Bellamy could understand, but there wasn’t much to do either. He sure thought that Clarke would look at them again, especially after she had the nerve to wait for him to finish taking his shower, only so she could apologize. But, if he was being honest, he just wanted her to stop talking. She promised him that things would change, yet, everything was still the same. Clarke didn’t greet them, didn’t speak to him, nor look at them. He was disappointed in her. He really thought she would keep her promise but seemed like he was stupid enough to believe her.

Murphy nudged Bellamy’s side with his elbow whereupon he turned his face to him, sending him a quizzing look. His friend just titled his chin up in Raven’s direction, making him turn his head around to look at her and his other friends. They were still talking, but they were looking at someone. Someone, that was sitting on the couch. He didn’t even have to turn his head in that direction, because he knew who they were looking at.

"Didn’t you say that you talked to Clarke?" Murphy asked.

Bellamy just shrugged his shoulders and begun cutting the vegetables in front of him again.

"I did, but apparently I talked to a ghost."  
  
Murphy snorted at that, making Bellamy smile a little bit. Murphy was a good guy, a good _friend_ , even though he was quite annoying sometimes and always made jokes. As much as he wanted to hate him, he just couldn’t. These stupid jokes wouldn’t make him start hating Murphy.

"You really don’t want me to talk to her?"

Bellamy sighed and filled the pan on the stove with the vegetables before he spun his head around to look at Clarke, who was laughing at something Luna had said. She was sitting very close to Lexa, who had laid her head on Clarke’s shoulder. Bellamy swept his eyes to Murphy, who was already looking at him and just shook his head.

"No," he elevated the flame of the stove. "She can do whatever the hell she wants, Murphy. It’s her decision." His friend nodded next to him and pointed to the pot filled with rice.

"Rice is done." Bellamy patted his friends’ shoulder and motioned him to get the plates. While Murphy did so, he took a look at Clarke again, who was now giving Lexa a quick peck on the lips. He really hoped that Lexa would be Clarke’s perfect match, because if she wasn’t, ignoring, avoiding, and abandoning him and her friends was for nothing.

# # # # # # # # # #

7 pm.

"Here we go again, guys. Third Truth Booth. Are you excited?" Aryana prided.

"Actually, we’re just trying to stay positive." Roan replied.

The host threw her head back as she started laughing. Bellamy had no idea what was funny about them losing hope, because, seriously? Last week wasn’t good for them and they needed a miracle if one of the pairs that won the getaway challenge should be a match.

"Well, I can’t help you in this case. But, let’s see who you guys voted into the Truth Booth."

Raven, who was sitting to Bellamy’s left side, begun playing with his hair the moment Aryana stepped next to the TV and waited, just as the whole group, for the result. He didn’t mind her doing that, so he didn’t tell Raven to stop, although he could feel someone’s gaze on him. Bellamy just shrugged it off and kept his eyes locked on the TV until the names and the pictures of the pair that got voted into the Truth Booth came up.

_Zeke and Maya_.

Actually, that was surprising, but, on the other hand, Bellamy was glad that it was them. Maya didn’t want a bad boy anymore and, for sure, Zeke was everything besides that, so it fit.

"Alright, Zeke and Maya, it’s your time to leave the others for your Truth Booth. To the rest of you: have a good night. Don’t sleep on what you really have to do here and stay away from drama. See you on Sunday!" Aryana left a few seconds after Zeke and Maya had made their way to the Truth Booth.

Bellamy placed his elbows on his knees and was about to lean forward, but Raven just pulled him back by his hair, making him turn his head towards her. He let his eyes sweep up and down her before he raised one eyebrow.

"You need something?" He asked.

Raven turned his head back to the screen before she let go off his hair. Bellamy didn’t even try to turn back to face her. He just waited until he felt her breath against his ear.

"Yeah," she whispered, making Bellamy close his eyes because he Goddamn knew what she wanted from him. It wasn’t the first time that she would try this and it would be the second time that he would reject her. He opened his eyes again, looking back at the TV.

"I need sex," she paused for a few seconds before she continued. "with you." 

Bellamy felt how she moved away from him, but there wasn’t much time to turn towards his friend and answer her, because they just found out that Zeke and Maya were…

_No Match_.

"I can’t believe we not only suck at relationships but also at this game." Jasper yelled.

"We’re hopeless." Wells added.

Bellamy just growled and slid a little bit down on the couch before he faced Raven again. It didn’t take her long to notice that he was looking at her, making her turn her head at him, too.

"So," Raven begun. "What do you say?" At this point, there wasn’t anything Bellamy could do rather than snort. Raven shook her head but smiled anyway. "Then I need someone else to take me."

Now, Bellamy actually had to laugh. Good to know that he wasn’t the only one that kinda missed having sex. But, he didn’t change his mind, either. He wouldn’t hook up with Raven again. They were friends now and he really wanted to keep it like that.

"Guess you’re right."

Raven shook her head again, laughing to herself this time as she placed her head on his shoulder. Again, he didn’t mind at all. He placed his head on top of hers and closed his eyes. Right now, there wasn’t much to do anyway. No confirmed perfect match, a frustrated group of people who didn’t even approach each other, and a cloud that was above them, waiting to pour out all the drama that accumulated itself around them. It was horrible.

The moment he thought that he could really relax after half of a week full of chaos, someone tapped his shoulder. Bellamy groaned as he turned his head to the right side and opened his eyes, only to meet Clarke’s. He furrowed his brows a little bit the minute he saw her, but he was able to see that she was kind of uncomfortable. As soon as they locked eyes, she turned her gaze to another part of his face, not ready to meet his eyes. He turned to look at Raven for a second, who was thankfully sleeping before he fixed his gaze on Clarke again, looking up to her.

"What’s up?" He asked curiously.

Bellamy had no clue what she wanted from him. Sure, he told her that she could come and spend the evening with their friends, but he didn’t really expect her to.

He noticed how she started kneading her hands again, making his facial expression turn into annoyance and disappointment rather than curiosity. She didn’t even need to say anything, he knew what she wanted to say. To know if he was right, he moved his head from Raven’s and leaned forward, seeing Lexa and Echo standing at the end of the couch, waiting for Clarke to join them. He leaned back against the cushions behind him and placed his head on top of Raven’s again, closing his eyes. Somehow, that’s when Clarke was brave enough to finally speak.

"Look, I really wanted to do something with you guys tonight, but… it’s Costia’s birthday and no one else except for us-"

Bellamy cut her off. "Us?"

"Uh… Lexa, her friends and I." He didn’t say anything, showing her that she should continue speaking, which she did seconds later. "She doesn’t want to make a big party or anything, so she asked us if we could do something on our own in the bedroom… I promise-"

Bellamy didn’t let her finish again, just cut her off a second time. "Let it go, Clarke, just leave."

"But, Bell-"

"Clarke, seriously, just do what he says. Apparently, you can’t keep your promises, so just leave us alone and go have fun with your new friends."

Bellamy didn’t have to open his eyes to know that Emori was talking to her. He actually thanked her for that, because otherwise he probably would’ve snapped at Clarke and he didn’t want to do that. Of course, he was mad at her, disappointed even, but getting into a fight with her wouldn’t make things better. Not for his friends, and him not for the whole group.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, giving him some kind of comfort. He was ready to open his eyes to see who it was, but as soon as Emori started talking, he kept them close.

"We said Thursday evening," She let go of his shoulder before she continued. "Let’s wait and see if she comes to us again. If not, she won’t be part of our family anymore."

Bellamy didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much to say anyway, especially because he knew that they decided to wait until Thursday evening. Yet, he felt betrayed by her. He had no idea if he should really hope for her to come around again or if he should just accept the fact that she wouldn’t.

He let out a breath, eyes still closed, and tried to calm down. Since they were still breathing, he still had hope.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 3, Day 17 – Thursday. Los Angeles. 9 am.

Fifteen minutes passed since _La Familia_ took over the garden area again. They had everything they needed to have a good vibe amongst them; French Toast with coffee or tea, sunny weather and well, friends. None of them thought about the person that was missing. They all ignored what happened, what _still_ was happening. All of them just avoided talking about it. Especially, Bellamy, Raven, Octavia and Emori.

They tried to focus on other things than Clarke betraying them. They couldn’t force her to come back to them and they wouldn’t. She made her decision and they would accept and respect it, even though they told her personal stuff, too; Things you wouldn’t just tell someone random you don’t care about. It was frustrating, but they managed to get past it and they would continue like before, just without Clarke.

The way they were sitting didn’t change much than on Wednesday. Just Monty, Jasper and Maya took chairs from the table and joined the rest of their friends who were sitting on the couch lounge.

"Okay, it’s Thursday. Nothing usually happens on Thursday, but we should do something." Harper said before she picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip.

"Right." Jasper agreed while cutting a bit of Bellamy’s French toast, eating that little piece himself.

"Really, Jasper?" Said person just smiled, proud of himself whereupon Bellamy only could shake his head. He picked up his own cup filled with black coffee as he leaned back against the back of the couch. "But, I’m in. What can we do?"

Miller and Raven exchanged a look before each of them glanced at their friends around them.

"Spit it out." Roan commanded.

Raven tilted her chin up, motioning Miller to go for it.

"We can’t throw a party because this is what we always do on Fridays, but we could still grab some of the alcohol that is here and play games."

"Games like what?" Roan questioned, smirk on his face.

Miller grinned at him before he continued. "There are a lot of games you can play that include alcohol, but since we all are kinda naughty…" He turned his head to face Raven, who leaned back against the couch and plopped her legs up onto the couch table.

"We have to take a drink every time someone says or does something dirty." She explained further.

"Yes!" Jasper shouted, jumping up from where he was sitting, making Octavia’s cup fall down onto the floor. Everyone was silent for a minute, all eyes on the youngest in their group, waiting for her to get real mad, but she just started laughing and hit Jasper’s arm.

Bellamy liked seeing his sister like that. Happy. Carefree. Enjoying life. That’s all he wanted for her and apparently, coming to this show gave not only her or him, but all of them a carefree life. Well, somehow.

"Alright," he said, putting his cup down on the table again. "Sounds fun and it’s not like-" He cut himself off as he saw Sasha standing behind the couch Miller and Harper were sitting on. "Yeah?"

That got everyone else’s attention, so they turned their heads around, looking at Sasha who was now quite uncomfortable.

"Sorry, I just… woke up and none of you girls were in the room anymore. I read the text you left me, so I came down here."

Emori smiled at her, waving her off. "It’s fine, you’re here now." She turned her head back to Murphy. "Get your ass up and come here, so you can let me sit on your lap."

Murphy murmured something under his breath that even Bellamy couldn’t understand as he got up and did what Emori said. Bellamy motioned Roan to slide a bit more to the end of the couch, which he did and he followed, making more space for Sasha. Before she sat down next to him, Maya gave her the plate they originally made for Clarke and got up to go make her a cup of coffee, too.

They all knew Maya wouldn’t come back right away and they wouldn’t continue planning their evening without her, so they got back to other conversations between each other. Bellamy used that time to get to know Sasha better. Eventually, they all had to if they really wanted to include her into their group and he didn’t have the time to talk to her yet. Apparently, she thought the same.

"You’re Bellamy, right? Octavia’s brother?" Sasha asked him.

He ran a hand through his hair as he turned around a bit so he could face her.

"Half-brother, yeah." Bellamy replied, sending her a light smile, which she replied.

"Really? Well, that wasn’t really what I expected…" Sasha admitted.

Bellamy smirked slightly. "Is that so?"

Sasha didn’t answer right away, just turned her face around. Bellamy followed her gaze and noticed how Maya walked out of the house with a cup in her hand. He faced Sasha again, who waited for Maya to reach them, and took the cup from her. She thanked her quickly, before she put it on the table next to Bellamy’s cup. She leaned back against the couch and smiled at him.

Bellamy had to laugh. He didn’t know if she forgot that he asked her something or if she just didn’t want to answer. He leaned back against the couch, too, and mimicked Raven, putting his legs on top of the table.

"Yeah," he spun his head around only to meet Sasha already looking at him. "Both of you have a great jawline for example, or your strong noses."

"So, that’s what you noticed?" Bellamy questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. He was probably a bit too much right now, well, for Sasha, but he just acted like he normally would. Perhaps that was his own personal issue, but he couldn’t change that.

"Hm…" she started, lowering her gaze for a second before she looked him back into the eyes and smiled genuinely as she shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, and that you have freckles and curly hair which Octavia doesn’t have."

Bellamy laughed lightly and nodded. "That’s true, yeah."

Sasha swept her eyes away from his face and smiled. "I guess someone likes you."

Bellamy frowned a little whereupon she tilted her chin to his shoulder. He turned his head and looked down on it and smiled lightly when he saw a blue butterfly sitting on his shoulder. Sasha leaned closer to him and for a few seconds Bellamy thought she was trying to kiss him. But, she just touched his shoulder and leaned back against the couch, holding up the butterfly. He parted his lips, ready to say something, but Roan nudged his back with his elbow, so he turned around.

"What?" he hissed.

Roan leaned back, giving him a better view to the table that stood across from the swimming pool. Bellamy got annoyed within seconds and just leaned back again.

"I don’t care."

"Sure, you don’t."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and was about to drop that topic again, ready to continue his conversation with Sasha, but Raven couldn’t shut her mouth and made the whole situation even worse.

"Well, well, well, if it isn’t Clarke Griffin, abandoning her friends for someone who _could_ be her perfect match!" she shouted.

Everyone turned their heads around to the table Clarke was sitting at with Lexa, Luna, Echo and Costia. The five girls looked back at them. Echo and Lexa seemed pretty mad, Costia and Luna were looking quite normal whilst Clarke looked uncomfortable.

Bellamy didn’t even want to have anything to do with this. He thought the day would be nice and good for them, especially because of the way it started, but seemed like he was wrong. Hoping that none of the girls sitting at the table would shout anything back was useless anyway, because a minute after Raven shouted at them, Lexa got up from her chair and made her way to their gang. Clarke followed her, probably wanting to stop whatever was about to happen, but Lexa didn’t let her stop her.

Raven met Lexa halfway and they glared at each other. The brunette waited for Lexa to say something first as she was looking confidently at her. Bellamy wished he wasn’t proud of his friend in that moment, but there was no way he would stay there and just let her threaten his friends.

"You should leave Clarke alone, do you understand? There’s a reason why she’s not spending time with you anymore."

Roan who was next to him stood up and pulled Raven away only to stand as close as possible to Lexa and tower above her.

"And you better shut your mouth. Who are you to even talk to us like this, huh?"

Lexa narrowed her eyes at Roan and shoved him away.

"I’m Clarke’s perfect match, that’s who I am. I’ll be more important to her than you’ll ever be."

This time, Bellamy couldn’t help himself, but let out a snort. Lexa turned her face to him and pushed Roan out of the way, walking towards him. Since Bellamy was just annoyed, yet entertained by how she was behaving, he didn’t even bother to get up, just grabbed his cup of coffee and sipped on it. Lexa stopped in front of him and slapped his legs off the table. He rolled his eyes and put the cup in his lap, looking up to her.

"Are you afraid of being Clarke’s number two and that’s why you keep her away from us? Trust issues?" Bellamy said casually. Apparently, that was something that annoyed Lexa for real because she bent forward a bit and hit his cup, so the coffee got all over his sweatpants.

Bellamy should be annoyed by it but he just _couldn’t_. This whole situation was hilarious and that Lexa really thought it would bring him on the edge made all of this even funnier.

"Come on, Lexa, just leave us alone and go back to Clarke."

Lexa was about to say something, but Clarke grabbed her forearm and pulled her out of the circle she was in, since everyone was around her. Clarke sent Bellamy an apologizing look, but he just rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly.  

"Right, don’t even try to show up again, Clarke, we’re done!" Octavia yelled as Clarke, Lexa and the others went inside.

Bellamy didn’t like this situation, but there wasn’t much to do. She could do whatever she wanted and if he was being honest, he didn’t even want her to be around them anymore. She fucked up and couldn’t even open her mouth and say something to them.

"Bellamy, your pants." Murphy said.

He nodded and put the cup on the table before he got up. "Will be right back."

"I’m coming with you." Octavia got up, too and followed him inside. Both of them didn’t look at Clarke when they walked in, just made their way upstairs.

While Bellamy was annoyed and disappointed by her behaviour, he could only imagine how mad and angry his sister was at Clarke. They really had to talk to their friends about it and discuss how things should _really_ go from now on.

Octavia grabbed him by the arm, making him stop in front of the camera room. He raised one eyebrow at her, showing her that he didn’t understand what she wanted from him. She just jerked her head to the side and raised one of her brows before she opened the door to the room and pulled him inside.

Bellamy didn’t say anything and just went inside with her and closed the door behind him. He knew that she wanted to get something off her chest and if he was being honest, he needed that, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ending up on a cliffhanger this time... my one and only question for today: who do you side with? La Familia or Clarke? Use the comment section to let me know, it really interests me! 
> 
> much love and see you in a few days! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two things
> 
> first one: i loved reading your thoughts and discussion in the comments of the last chapter! it truly made me happy and seeing on which side you guys are on is really interesting. thanks for that!  
> second one: an 11k emotional roller coaster.

5 pm.

_ Camera Room _ _– The Blake siblings (Bellamy and Octavia)_

Bellamy turned on the camera before he joined his sister on the couch. Octavia was still mad and if he was being honest, he didn’t know if this was that great of an idea. Sure, the producers would cut things out, but he still hoped that Octavia wouldn’t go off _that_ much.

"You want to go first?" Bellamy asked, looking at his little sister. She nodded in response then turned her face towards the camera.

Bellamy knew that Octavia wanted to calm down for a little bit. But, he also knew that it wouldn’t help at all. She always spoke her mind and it was hard for her to apologize if she did something impulsive, like insulting someone when she was mad at them, or to see that she was wrong.

Octavia took a deep breath next to him before she began her ranting.

_"I actually have no idea where to start, but all I can say is that right now, Clarke Griffin is dead to me."_

And that’s what Bellamy meant. He wasn’t surprised that Octavia said something like this; He had grown used to that. Even if Clarke should choose them again after all this drama, it would take his sister a long time to really accept Clarke back.

 _"I feel like the last two weeks were a fucking joke and I can’t believe we all let us play like this."_ She continued, shaking her head in disappointment. _"And that’s not everything. My brother opened up to everyone, telling them about our past and obviously the person who hurts him most is Clarke."_

Bellamy spun his head around to his sister, furrowing his brows. Why was everyone always bringing this up? Clarke and him. There was no such thing. Octavia had no idea what she was talking about and he had to stop whatever she wanted to say.

 _"O, she hurt all of us, not only me. We all opened up though._ Raven told us about her relationship with her mother. Emori told us about her past. _She betrayed us all and knowing that we all shared something this personal, only for her to throw us in a bin as if we’re nothing, is disappointing."_

Octavia snorted and turned around to face him. He followed her movement and raised one eyebrow at her.

"What? You don’t think she deserves a second chance?"

His sister shook his head. _"It’ll be hard to forgive her and especially after you told her about our, even more so, your past. Do you think I can just act like none of this happened?"_

Bellamy sighed then turned his face back to the camera. _"Let’s just hope all of this ends soon."_ He got up and stopped the recording before he turned off the camera. He sat back down next to Octavia and tilted his head to the side. "Really?"

"Really." Octavia replied confidently. "Look, I know you like her, even more than you want to admit-"

"O, don’t try this one. You know it’s not true, so don’t start this." Bellamy replied while rolling his eyes.

Octavia just waved him off. "Whatever. I’m just trying to say that you don’t need to defend her. She made a big ass mistake and I don’t really know how she can make this up. I’m not telling you to be mad at her, I just want you to know that she’s not worth your disappointment. We should let it go and just try and forget that she was with us."

She got up and walked towards the door whereupon Bellamy got up too and followed her out of the room. There wasn’t much for him to add to what she had been saying because she was right. He should forget about her and what she had done and focus on his own journey with the rest of his friends. If they were really important to Clarke, she would come around and try her best to make things better again.

# # # # # # # # # #

Clarke closed the door behind her as Lexa made her way to the bed and sat down on it, waiting for her to come join her, which she did seconds later. The whole situation escalated and she had no idea how she could make all of this better. She didn’t want to ignore her friends, if they still were her friends, but all she was doing was trying to find her perfect match. Sure, she should’ve told them that, but she thought they would understand. It seemed like Lexa wasn’t right when she told her that her friends would get it, because apparently, they didn’t.

"Sorry, Clarke… I shouldn’t have reacted like this, but what Raven said to you was just rude." Lexa explained.

Clarke shook her head and took Lexa’s hands in hers. She knew that Lexa only wanted to protect her, but the way she did wasn’t the best way to do so.

"It’s fine. This is not your fight, I have to go through this alone… it’s not like they’re wrong anyway."

Lexa snorted slightly, making Clarke furrow her brows a bit. Lexa pulled her hands back and waved her off.

"Listen, I know they are your ‘friends’, but if they were, they would understand that everything you’re doing right now, or what you’ve done for this week until now, was trying to find your perfect match by spending time with me. And look where we are now."

Clarke sighed and looked at the ceiling for a brief moment. She knew that Lexa was right in some kind of way, yet, she hurt her friends and to say she wasn’t hurt herself by everything that happened would be a lie. It affected her, too. Raven and Octavia were pretty mad at her and she could only imagine what they now thought of her. Emori didn’t want to talk to her and Bellamy didn’t seem to be ready to have a conversation yet either. On the one hand, she wanted it all to end; wanted for everything to be fine again; but on the other, she just didn’t want to let Lexa down.

"Clarke…" The blonde faced Lexa again who shook her head. "They’re not your friends if they act this way, seriously. I told you this already and-"

Now she had enough. Clarke cut her off, holding up a hand to make her stop talking. "I understand that you don’t like them, but they’re _great_. They are my friends, my _family_. And I have to make things good again I will!"

Lexa widened her eyes for a brief moment before she closed them and raised her brows. But, it didn’t take her long to open them again.

"Alright, I’ll stop, but only because I really like and care about you. If you want to leave me for them, then I don’t think we should go any further with what we’re doing here."

Clarke shook her head again and got closer to Lexa. "I won’t, I promise."

The other girl sighed lightly but nodded. Clarke didn’t like this. She didn’t want to choose between Lexa and her friends. Lexa had a great personality and she really believed that she could be her perfect match.

Clarke placed her hand on Lexa’s cheek, making her look her into the eyes. Lexa sent her a light smile before she leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was soft and gentle. Clarke really wanted nothing else right now. Eventually, she had to talk to her friends and she would do it, later today. Right now, she just wanted to stay with Lexa.

# # # # # # # # # #

8 pm.

"Don’t make me come-"

"Drink up, Maya! Sorry, but that was a little bit naughty, don’t you think?" Jasper babbled.

Maya groaned in response but took the cup from the spot in front of her and downed the liquid inside of it. Bellamy couldn’t believe that they really decided to play this game, but he had to admit that it was fun. Everyone was already tipsy, if not drunk, just like Raven, Emori, Roan and Murphy. Jasper was drunk, too, but only because he drank more without even saying something dirty.

They got everything they needed; beer, wine, vodka, rum, and coke, orange juice and energy drinks to mix with the alcohol too. Obviously, they wouldn’t spend a night like this without some snacks, either. Everything was placed in the middle of the circle they were sitting in.

"I have a question for everyone here that never kissed the same sex!"

"Jasper, what are you trying to achieve here?" Miller replied, shaking his head as he laughed.

"What about spin the bottle? And whoever spins has to kiss the person the bottle lands on." Jasper prided.

Emori just snorted and threw an empty water bottle at him.

"You wanted same sex kisses but your game doesn’t really add up with it."

Jasper’s eyes grew wide when he realized himself that nothing was making sense right now. But, he just got up with one hand placed on Monty’s shoulder for some leverage.

"Well, then we only kiss another person if the bottle lands on the same sex! Problem fixed! Let’s play!" Jasper sat down again whilst Octavia leaned forward to grab the empty bottle Emori threw against Jasper.

"Which of you idiots wants to spin first?" Octavia said with one raised brow.

Raven held up her hand whereupon Octavia threw the bottle over to her. Raven was able to catch it and placed it on the floor in front of her, smirking slightly.

"Alright, Ladies, get ready to taste the Reyes lips." With that, she spun the bottle whilst everyone was looking at it, waiting for the bottle to stop at a girl. And it did. The bottle came to a halt, pointing at Octavia. "Come here, Blake."

Bellamy smirked and leaned forward, although he knew that Raven didn’t mean him. He looked over at his sister as he did so, who only returned his smirk with her own and mimicked him. Bellamy knew why she was doing this and he really had to fight back the laughter that grew in the back of his throat.

Raven didn’t seem to care about what was happening and neither did anyone else until both Bellamy and Octavia were sitting in front of her. She looked between the two of them before she started laughing.

"Should’ve been more specific, right?" She uttered.

"Drink, Reyes!" Roan shouted before he took his own cup and took a sip from his drink.

Raven rolled her eyes and took her cup, downing the liquid that was inside of it before she put it on the floor in front of her again.

"So, Jaspers’ rule was to kiss the same sex, but I’m tempted to kiss the other Blake, too." Raven admitted.

Bellamy just laughed and sat back on his spot between Monty and Harper. As soon as he took his place again, his sister sat next to Raven only so everyone would have a better view on them kissing. Actually, Bellamy didn’t want to see his sister kissing anyone. He still hadn’t gotten used to her dating someone or being in a relationship, but he also knew that they wouldn’t french kiss either, since then, they would have to take another drink. He wrinkled his brows lightly, remembering that what they were playing didn’t add up to the rules of drinking. He snorted and turned his attention back to the game.

Most of the kisses that were shared weren’t that special. Sasha and Maya were the next to kiss and it was funny since both of them were shy _and_ Bellamy happened to flirt with the two of them too. They didn’t really kiss after all, just a quick peck on the lips. Nobody said anything. They all knew that they wouldn’t do more than just that. But, when Miller spun the bottle next and it landed on Murphy everyone actually started cheering.

"Well, that’s going to be hot to look at." Emori chided.

They didn’t waste time on the kiss either, just went straight to it. Nobody could stop laughing when they tried to mimic a make out session straight out of a bad movie, but that was why they were here; having fun and joking around with each other.

Murphy threw the bottle to Roan next, who put it right in front of him. He looked at everyone for some seconds. Roan’s eyes stopped at Bellamy for a little longer and that’s when he knew that Roan _wanted_ the bottle to land on him. Bellamy rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the smirk that was making its way upon his lips before Roan winked at him and spun the bottle. He wasn’t surprised by the fact that Roan wanted to kiss him after everything he’d already seen.

When the bottle _really_ landed on him, he didn’t know if he jinxed it or if it was a coincidence, but in the end he didn’t really care. If Roan wanted to kiss him that badly, he would make sure that he got a real one. He was a good kisser after all.

"Fucking finally." Roan revealed.

Miller clapped his hands together as he threw his head and laughed slightly.

Bellamy shook his head but got up from where he was sitting before he made his way over to Roan. Emori, who was sitting right beside the older one, slid up to the side, closer to Murphy, as she looked up to him, sending him a smirk. Again, Bellamy shook his head, but took the free spot next to Roan and turned around to him as soon as sat down.

"Let’s see how addicting your lips really are."

"Shut up, Roan." Bellamy muttered as he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards himself.

Their faces weren’t that far away from each other when Roan thought it was the right time to answer him as he grinned.

"Oh, I will." Roan replied before pressing his lips against his own.

Bellamy didn’t know how them kissing actually looked, but it didn’t feel too bad at all. He never let go of his collar but Roan’s hand made its way up his thigh, squeezing it one time, then resting his hand on it. When Roan asked for access, he didn’t pull back, but rather parted his lips. Bellamy _did_ let out a moan as soon as their tongues fluttered against each others, whereupon he could feel Roan smirk a little bit. No, he wouldn’t let him be the one dominating this kiss, so Bellamy took over which lead into a tongue fight between them. Even though they did so, the kiss was still kinda slow.

It was _fucking_ hot. Unsurprisingly, it did turn him on in some kind of way. He always knew that he was pansexual; there wasn’t any preferable gender for him, neither did he care about who it was. He just never had the chance to actually kiss a guy or be really interested in one, so, in the past, it only had been girls. He seemed to have much more luck with them. But, that wouldn’t stop him from thinking that making out with Roan was one of the best experiences in this house, except for having…

Bellamy pulled away and let go of his collar before he reached for Emori’s drink and downed it.

"That was probably way too naughty." He said lowering the cup again.

Miller snorted. "Yeah, but it was great to watch. Now, I want sex."

"Drink up, Nate!" Zeke shouted, holding his own cup up to him before taking a sip.

Octavia just shook her head but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Bellamy knew she saw _and_ heard worse than that, unfortunately for her, but that only meant that she wasn’t in shock because of what she just witnessed.

Harper and Emori were next to kiss, and they did look good while making out too. They kept it short, since Emori didn’t want to scare Murphy away. Said person didn’t seem to mind anyway, just smirked, watching how it probably looked when they were making out.

Meanwhile, Bellamy noticed how he was still sitting next to Emori, now way too close to Roan than before, since Harper made her way to the brunette and not the other way round. So, he decided to get up and go back to sit on his spot, but when he was about to do so, Roan placed a hand on his arm, making him stop in his tracks.

Bellamy turned his head to the side, facing the older one and sent him a confused look. Roan just grinned again and let go off his arm.

"You’re a good kisser, Blake. Another reason why Clarke apparently can’t get enough of you."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and got up, just as Harper and Emori finished making out _and_ as someone knocked on the door. Everyone turned silent, looking at the door and waiting for someone to come in.

"Who’s that?" Lincoln asked quietly to Octavia who just shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of the liquid inside of her cup.

There was another knock on the door again, apparently one too many for Monty to keep ignoring it.

"Door’s open." He said, keeping his eyes locked on the door, just like everyone else. But, when the door opened, some people turned their attention back to other things or started a conversation with one of their friends, but not Bellamy.

He sighed the moment he saw her coming into the room, looking shy, the first moment he actually saw her like this. She noticed him almost immediately, as if she was looking out for him, which was true as it turned out.

She sent him a light smile before she used her voice to explain what she wanted from them.

"Sorry to disturb, I don’t want much, just," she turned her gaze from the people who were looking at her to Bellamy. They locked eyes again, like always, before she continued talking, "Can we talk?"

Bellamy sighed and ran a hand through his hair, fighting against the voice in his head that wanted to say no. But, it wasn’t fair after all, and he did say he would talk to her Thursday evening. He kind of promised it to his friends, so he nodded and started walking towards the door, only stopped to turn around when Octavia called out his name.

"O, it’s fine, I got this." Bellamy assured his sister before he pulled the door open a little bit more and motioned for her to walk outside. He followed and closed the door behind him, leaning against it when it was closed. He was probably way too tipsy, if not already drunk, for this conversation and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep calm as soon as she would speak out something stupid, but he had to try. So, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, tilting his chin up to her.

"What do you want, Clarke?" Bellamy questioned.

Clarke just sighed before she looked around the hallway. He had no idea why exactly she was doing this, but he was almost sure that it had something to do with Lexa. For sure, she didn’t like that Clarke wanted to rebuild the friendship between her and them, but it seemed like Clarke finally reached the point of doing what she really wanted. But, he didn’t know if it was too late for it. Most of the group was already mad at her, especially after what happened in the morning, since she didn’t say anything to defend them in front of Lexa. They didn’t care if she did that in the end and he could imagine what was going on behind the door right now.

The blonde turned her head back to him and smiled slightly before she begun talking.

"Today things happened that I never wanted to become real." Bellamy snorted, ready to say something, but Clarke just held her hand up for a second then continued. "Just hear me out, Bellamy!"

She sighed again and raked her fingers through her hair.

"I want to make things good again, okay? I know I fucked up, especially after today. I should’ve said something to Lexa, maybe even stopping her but I just…" She trailed off and looked at the ceiling.

Bellamy’s emotions switched from anger to feeling bad for her within seconds. But, there was nothing he could do until she finished saying whatever was on her mind and he would try to not cut her off again, although he knew it would be hard for him.

Clarke turned her gaze back to him.

"I don’t know, I guess I really got caught up into playing this game right and you can’t tell me that the whole time we’ve been together, we actually tried to figure out who’s our perfect match, except for Miller, Murphy… and some others, but you know where I want to go with this."

Bellamy nodded, showing her that he understood where she was coming from. But, in the end she didn’t choose wisely. She made a big mistake and just apologizing to make things better wasn’t the right call. He had no clue if she really understood that, but he had to make sure.

The older one took a deep breath before he pushed himself off the door and took a step closer to Clarke. He didn’t miss how she tilted her chin up a little bit, since she was shorter than him.

"Clarke," he begun as he closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, only to find her meeting his as soon as he did. "I told you once already… apologizing helps no one. Not you and not us. You need to show actions."

"I _am_ showing actions!" she yelled. "Why do you think I’m here?"

Now, Bellamy frowned. Did she really just shout at him? Why was _she_ allowed to lose her mind and he had to keep himself calm? There was no reason for her to react this way, especially not since she wanted to make things better.

Bellamy laughed, kinda devilish as he ran one hand over his face. "Clarke… you’re going to drive me crazy."

"How!? I’m not doing anything, Bellamy. All I’m-" He didn’t let her finish the sentence, just threw his hands in the air and looked at her, confusion written all over his face.

"Well, guess what? That’s the _fucking_ point! You’re doing nothing, yet you expect us to just accept your apologies and take you back into our group!" Bellamy shouted, not caring if anyone would be able to hear them fighting, nor caring that there was a camera in the hallway.

Clarke widened her eyes at him, before she pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes. Bellamy thought she’d finally understood how things were, but instead she jabbed her finger into his chest and got closer.

" _You_ do not decide that! I’m tired of all that bullshit that happened this week, can’t you believe that?" She pressed.

Bellamy snorted. "Yeah, I do believe every single word you say, Clarke. That’s what you want! But it’s not like that! Don’t you think we’re all sick of your little games, Clarke!? Do you think we were happy!? You left _me_ ; you left all of us and you believe that showing up now makes everything better? Forgettable? You’re a fool, if you believe that!"

God, he was so mad at her. He had been all week long, but he tried his best to swallow it down; for himself, for his friends… But now she was standing right in front of him, acting like she was the victim when they were; the people who she left for a potential perfect match. _Fuck it_! You don’t just do that.

Clarke just opened her mouth slightly, ready to shout back, but nothing came out of it. Bellamy thought it was over, even though he wasn’t finished yet. There was much more going through his head, much more things that he wanted to say, but fighting wasn’t what he wanted, either.

"Sorry, I-" Clarke cut him off.

"Shut your mouth, Bellamy, seriously!" She yelled, hitting his chest with her fist. "I really believed you weren’t an asshole, guess it turned out that you for sure are one! I should’ve known when you hurt Maya. Octavia was right and still I came to you and tried to make you feel better! An asshole! That’s who you are!"

"Oh? Is that so!?" Bellamy questioned, anger rising in his chest the more Clarke kept talking. "Do I have to remind you what a bitch you were when you left me all alone in the bathroom on that Tuesday in the first week? Guess, the princess was too ashamed of having a cock in her mouth!" He yelled back.

Clarke narrowed her eyes at him even more and got closer, too. He didn’t pay attention to how close they already stood in front of each other and Clarke didn’t seem to care about that either.

"Don’t you dare bring this up, Bellamy." She said warningly.

"Why not, hm? I think now’s the perfect time to bring it up anyway, since we never talked about that." He replied, taking a step closer, _again_.

"We never talked about a lot of things. If I remember correctly, probably because you suck at opening up to people! You’re not only an asshole, but a coward, too!"

Bellamy was about to fight back just as the door swung open behind him. He turned around only to see how Murphy was standing in the doorframe, looking between him and Clarke.

"Everything okay here?" He asked carefully.

Again, Bellamy parted his lips to say something, but Clarke was faster.

"Yeah, there’s nothing to talk about anymore." With that she spun around on her heels and made her way downstairs. Bellamy followed her with his eyes but as soon as she disappeared he turned his head towards Murphy again and was ready to enter the room again. Apparently, Murphy didn’t seem to agree, since he stopped right in front of him, blocking the way.

"You alright, big Blake?"

"Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy shoved him out of his way, lightly, since he didn’t want anybody else to become a victim of his words. He fucked it up. He never meant to talk to Clarke the way he just did because of losing control, like always, because he had to be so fucking impulsive. He hated himself for what just happened out there, but Clarke wasn’t innocent either.

Luckily, no one asked him about what happened and just kept going with their conversations. Bellamy didn’t want to have to deal with anything else anymore. His day started shit and it would end just as shitty as it had been.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Clarke let herself fall onto the four poster bed in the garden, still mad at the things Bellamy just threw at her. How could he insult her like this? After everything she tried to change, fix… She knew she had been awful to them the whole week but was apologizing really that bad? No, it was a beginning and the fact that Bellamy didn’t appreciate that wanted to make her scream.

How could she be this wrong about a person? Probably, these were the consequences of always seeing the good in people. She slammed her fist against the stakes of the furniture, hating herself for letting Lexa ruin her friendships. She had no idea how everything would get better from here. Bellamy would’ve been the key to the group… Not that she wanted to use him or anything, but although they just had a screaming match, he was still important to her.

The things she said… The things both of them said just came out of anger… Well, that was what she hoped. For sure, there was probably _something_ right about them, but she never meant to hurt him. Especially not with telling him that he was a coward for not opening up.

God, this whole week was a disaster and Clarke had no idea how things would go on from now on. She knew Lexa would be mad at her for trying to rebuild her relationship with her friends, her _family_ , so a confrontation by Lexa was waiting for her. And not only that. Tomorrow, her friends would probably hate her even more than they already did. Everything took a dramatic turn within a week and if Clarke was being honest, she kind of still had hope that everything would be fine again… _kinda._

# # # # # # # # # # 

_ Camera Room _ _– Monty and Murphy_

_"Well, guys, as much as I hate to break it to you, La Familia is about to go down."_ Murphy said, shaking his head slightly by the thought of it.

 _"I guess, we don’t have to explain anything, you probably saw that on TV already, but shit went down this week and we have no idea how to turn it around again."_ Monty uttered next to Murphy on the couch before he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees.

They were quiet for a moment, both speechless and clueless of how to handle the current state they were in. It didn’t make things easier that their group was kind of sharing two different opinions on this whole drama. Monty and Murphy sided with Zeke, Lincoln, Harper and Maya; They just wanted everything to be fine again. Sure, Clarke made mistakes and abandoned them, but everyone made mistakes, so why not forgive her?

Miller, Jasper, Roan, Raven, Emori and Octavia weren’t on their side. They had no interest in giving Clarke a second chance that easily and wanted her to try more than just apologizing. The whole siding with, somehow, either Clarke or Bellamy would tear the group apart and that was something Murphy and Monty wanted to stop.

Murphy patted Monty’s shoulder as he got up but bent forward to look into the camera one last time. _"Trouble in paradise."_

With that, he turned off the camera and made his way out of the room followed by a frustrated Monty.

Indeed, trouble in paradise.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 3, Day 17 – Friday. Los Angeles. 2 am.

By the sound of the door getting closed, Bellamy woke up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Since it was dark in the room he wasn’t able to see who just walked in, but he believed that it was one of the guys he shared his room with. He used his left hand to tap the spot next to him to see if Miller was still there and he was, so it couldn’t be him. As much as he wanted to check who it was, he couldn’t because Zeke would wake up the minute he’d turn the light on. Frustrating.

Bellamy turned on his back and took a deep breath before he closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep again. He had no idea what time it was, but the room was dark enough for him to think that it was around 1 or 2 am in the morning. God, he just wanted to fall back asleep; nothing else. By the thought of their weekly houseparty that they would have today, he groaned as quietly as he could. He had no interest in drinking alcohol again after what happened hours ago.

He was about to drift back to sleep, but his eyes snapped open the minute something hit the floor. He pushed himself up on his elbows, although he knew he wouldn’t be able to see anything.

"Really?" he whispered as quiet as possible while waiting for a response but he never got one.

Bellamy started thinking of what the fuck was going on. No way ghosts were fucking real; he didn’t believe in stuff like that, but why wouldn’t he get an answer from the person who just entered the room? He tried to keep his voice low, but he spoke loud enough for the person to hear him. Something was definitely wrong.

There weren’t any more sounds anymore, just footsteps, so he thought that whoever walked inside the room in these early hours, made their way to his bed. It was probably just one of the guys, so he laid back down on his back and closed his eyes. There was no reason for panicking now. All he wanted was to sleep again. He was tired and didn’t have time to really care about what was going on. But, the moment the mattress got lower because of an additional weight, he started caring.

Bellamy was about to push himself up again, but whoever got onto the bed raised his right leg up and laid down between them, head on his chest. He had never been this confused in life before than now. But, he figured one thing out already; The person wasn’t a guy, it was a girl due to the feeling of her boobs against his torso.

 _What the hell was going on_? He couldn’t even move because whoever it was, was laying between his legs _and_ on top of him. How was he going to figure out who they were without turning on the lights now? And why didn’t the person respond to him earlier? Why was this person choosing _him_ to sleep on? So many questions and no answers. He was too tired to do something about it, but he still had to figure out who it was.

So, Bellamy pressed his nose into the girl’s hair and tried to remember the smell of it. Meanwhile, she grabbed his arm and used it to wrap it around her back. _Jesus Christ_ , someone liked cuddling. Unfortunately, the smell of her hair didn’t tell him anything, probably because she didn’t wash them just now. Yeah, thinking that he would figure it out by smelling at her hair was a dumb idea.

The girl on top of him placed one of her hand on his chest next to her head while she first placed her other hand on his face before sliding her fingers into his hair, grabbing it. Bellamy really asked himself why this was happening to him. What had he done to get punished like this. Now he really had to get up and carry whoever was laying on him out of the room.

He sighed and moved slightly, but that only caused the girl to whimper and grab his hair even harder. There was no way to get out of this. Bellamy groaned again and just closed his eyes, letting it be how it was. He would survive like this until sunrise.

For some reason, God wasn’t on his side today, because the girl started sobbing. Bellamy wanted to act like he didn’t care, but he _did_. He had no idea why she was crying or for what reason she chose to come to him with her problems, but he wouldn’t just ignore someone that was crying. So, he placed his hand on her back, caressing it up and down. Bellamy thought it was way too intimate, because the girl wasn’t really wearing anything except for her bra, but, he would comfort her anyway.

Bellamy stayed quiet, there was no need for him to speak if she wasn’t replying to him. The only thing that crossed his mind because of the whole situation was that whoever this was, the person was clearly sleep walking.

He kept running his hand up and down her spine until she stopped crying and went silent. Bellamy smiled slightly to himself, because he had been able to make her fall asleep again and because he would finally get his own sleep. He closed his eyes again, ready to fall asleep, but then _she_ spoke.

"I miss you, dad… I miss you so much." she whispered.

Bellamy sighed, imagining what exactly those words meant, but by recalling how she didn’t want to talk about her dad on the aircraft, he knew that he was right about what he was thinking. He wrapped his arm around her again before he reached for the blanket and pulled it closer to them. Although he was still kinda mad at her, he wouldn’t carry her back to her room. Miller would probably ask him why she was sleeping with them in a bed, but that wasn’t important to him. All he cared about right now was taking care of _her_ and sleep.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head before he put his own back on the pillow and closed his eyes.

"Night, princess."

# # # # # # # # # #

7 am.

_ Camera Room _ _– Miller_

_"Good morning, people."_ Miller said, smirk plastered on his face. _"Remember the last time I sat on this couch? I sat here with Raven and Harper, but I’m alone now. Don’t worry, I still got the tea."_

He leaned back against the cushions and rested his arm on the armrest.

 _"It’s 7 am right now and I’m the first one to be awake from the guys I share the bedroom with. I thought I was dreaming"_ he trailed off, only to laugh a bit as he clapped his hands together. Miller shook his head and nudged the bridge of his nose. _"I’m still trying to figure out when and how that happened, but our bullheads actually slept in one bed tonight. No, Clarke slept on top of Bellamy while he was wearing nothing but briefs and she was wearing some shorts and only her bra."_

Miller stopped again as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

_"Look, I’m not saying they were having sex, especially not because I share a bed with Bellamy and I believe he wouldn’t do that. But… there is a slight possibility of it… after screaming at each other like that. Jesus, we could feel the sexual tension through the door."_

He laughed again then slid to the front of the couch and waved into the camera.

_"Whatever happened, Gossip Gang is here to find out. See you soon!"_

With that, Miller stopped the recording and saved the video before turning off the camera. He made his way out of the room with his smirk still on the face.

# # # # # # # # # # 

The next time Bellamy woke up was too early for him to function. The sun was shining through the window and all he wanted to do was pull the covers over his head and go back to sleep. But, when he saw that Miller wasn’t lying next to him anymore and Clarke was still sleeping on top of him, he wasn’t sure if he should wake her up and tell her to go, or if he should just stop caring. Miller definitely saw them like this already, so there was no reason for waking her up. On the other hand, everyone else in this room could wake up and until now, Miller was the only one who knew.

Bellamy groaned. He caressed Clarke’s back with his hand, trying to wake her up in a calming way. She wouldn’t know how she got here, so he should probably tell her what happened as soon as she would wake up.

Sure, after yesterday evening, things should be super awkward between them, but Bellamy didn’t feel like that. Actually, her sleep walking to _him_ showed that she really had been sorry and that he, if not also everyone else, was wrong. He still hated himself for yelling at her and he would apologize, a hundred percent.

Since Clarke didn’t seem to wake up, he had to come up with something else. The first thing that crossed his mind really didn’t add up to the state they were currently in, but he knew that nothing else would wake her up. So, he just did it.

Bellamy placed his hand on her butt, waiting for any reaction from her side, but nothing happened. He knew that wouldn’t be enough and it caused a snort. He smacked her ass which turned out to be the right call.

Clarke shrieked and pushed herself up from his chest, still laying on top of him and widened her eyes at him the moment she realized where she was. She sat up almost immediately, taking Miller’s spot on the bed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Bellamy-" He lifted one of his hands up, lazily, stopping her from talking.

"Nothing happened. You sleep walked, that’s it. I didn’t want to throw-" This time, Clarke cut him off.

"Can you shut up for a minute!?"

Bellamy held his hands up in surrender while sitting up, leaning his head against the headboard.

Clarke kept looking between him, herself and the bed. She was probably trying to remember what happened, Bellamy thought. Sure, she was. He didn’t even know if she had sleep walked in the past or if it was the first time in her life. He wanted to ask her, but he wasn’t sure if that would be too soon after their fight yesterday. Well, to be honest, she didn’t comment on him smacking her ass either, so couldn’t be that much worse.

"Do you sleep walk often?" Bellamy asked her softly whereupon she looked him in the eyes again. She nodded.

"Twice a year, actually. It happens on the same days." Clarke waited for a few seconds, never tearing her eyes away from his and he did the same. He kept their eye contact just as much as she did.

"On my dad’s birthday and his death-day." she continued, almost whispering it to herself.

Bellamy didn’t want her to talk about it with him. They weren’t that close currently, so he didn’t want to hear it, but just apologize for what had happened.

"Look," he started, turning her attention back to him. "I can imagine how you don’t want to talk about it right now, so we won’t. All I actually want to say is that I’m sorry for what I said to you, yesterday. It wasn’t fair from my side and I do believe that everything can get back to normal, just give the others time. I’m not saying that you did something wrong, because you didn’t. You were just looking for your perfect match and as you said yesterday that’s not what we’ve been doing. I’m not mad at you anymore, I’m tired of being angry with you, so I guess things will be fine again, if you want them to be for sure."

Clarke didn’t answer, immediately, but when Bellamy saw a light smile making its way on her lips, he knew that he forgave her for behaving like an idiot. What happened still hurt him, it would for a while, but if none of them would’ve made that step this whole drama would go on for weeks.

"It’s okay," Clarke said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "You’re not the one who has to apologize. As I said, I’m sorry for the trouble I put all of you through and I’ll try my best to fix all of this again. I’m glad that you… understand what I actually planned on doing even if I kinda forgot about all of your existence.” Bellamy snorted, which caused Clarke to smile even more. “I won’t force anyone to forgive me, I understand if they won’t, but I do believe that each one of us wants to go back to where we started."

Bellamy nodded and sent her a genuine smile which she returned easily. They stayed silent for a minute, unsure of what to say next. Clarke was looking around the room while Bellamy leaned his head against the headboard of the bed. He knew it would be awkward and for sure it wouldn’t be easy to go back to old manners, but they would try.

He got up from the bed and bent forward, grabbing his shirt from the floor and put it on. In the same moment, the door opened and the both of them spun their heads to the door. It was Miller.

Their friend smirked at them whereupon Bellamy just rolled his eyes and turned back to face Clarke. He wasn’t surprised to find her already looking at him. She smiled lightly and got up from the bed.

"Thanks again… for not throwing me out." Bellamy nodded before she made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Miller walked towards their bed and sat down on it, still looking at him with that smirk on his face.

"Do you want to say something?" Bellamy questioned.

"So, you made up? Did you have sex? Do you like each other?"

Bellamy rolled his eyes and threw his pillow at his friend. "Shut up, Miller."

# # # # # # # # # #

Clarke couldn’t believe that she sleep walked to Bellamy. God, this whole situation really couldn’t get more embarrassing than it already was. Yet, she couldn’t stop smiling. As hard as she tried to stop herself from doing so, she couldn’t. Bellamy forgave her for everything that happened in the past few days and if he was willing to try rebuilding their friendship again, then Raven, Emori, Octavia and Harper would probably be willing to do the same. She wasn’t quite sure how she would handle the rest of her friends, but she would try her best to make everything better again That’s what she promised herself.

But, there was something else she had to deal with first. Lexa. Clarke knew that the other girl didn’t like her friends and was against them, but she put Lexa above her family for a long time already and now it was time to change that.

Clarke made her way to Lexa’s room and stopped in front of it. She couldn’t enter the room she shared with her friends yet without talking to them and actually working on their friendship, so she could only go back to Lexa. She knew that she was already awake. Lexa was a morning bird, so she probably waited for her to come back. The truth is, Clarke wasn’t ready for this confrontation, because she knew it would hurt her if she had to end things with Lexa. But, on the other hand it only showed that perhaps she wasn’t her perfect match after all.

The blonde took a deep breath before she placed her hand on the handle and opened the door to the room. As expected, Lexa was sitting on her bed with a book in her hand. From her appearance, she probably already took a shower.

Clarke closed the door behind her which made Lexa look up from her book. She gave her a tender smile which Clarke quickly returned as she made her way to the other girl and sat down in front of her. Lexa turned the book around and placed it on the bed next to her.

"Hey," Clarke whispered. The other girl nodded in response as she put a strand of hair behind her ear. Clarke sighed and looked down at the blanket as she started talking. "I slept walked tonight." She lifted her head again only to meet Lexa already looking at her.

"Oh," was all she said.

Clarke furrowed her brows lightly. _Oh_? That was it? Nothing more? Clarke shook her head and got up from the bed. She knew exactly why Lexa was being so distant and she didn’t want to deal with this now. She made her way to the closet to grab all the things she used to bring in this room. Lexa followed her seconds later.

"Clarke…" Lexa begun, but she just cut her off.

"Don’t ‘Clarke’ me, Lexa! You’re pissed because I left yesterday and actually tried to fix the relationship I have with my friends! You didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day and even now you’re mad at me!" She yelled.

Lexa crossed her arms in front of her chest, walking closer towards her but Clarke kept gathering all her stuff together.

"I’m sorry about yesterday, I truly am, but I just don’t see how you want to keep being friends with them after everything they did to you. Especially Bellamy." Lexa explained.

Clarke spun on her heels towards the girl in front of her. " _Don’t_ talk like this about Bellamy!"

Lexa looked her in the eyes and let her arms fall next to her side seconds later, tilting her head up and keeping her face neutral, but serious. Clarke hated it when she did that, because all she wanted her to see was how strong she was and how many feelings she gathered into herself.

"You care about him." Lexa stated, no expression on her face.

"I care about all of them!"

"But you worry about him more; How he reacts to what you’re doing; What he thinks about you." The girl continued.

Clarke shook her head, irritated by what Lexa just said, but she didn’t have time to give it more attention, so she just stepped closer to Lexa, backing her up until she hit the wall next to the door.

"Leave me and my friends alone. We’re done here!" Clarke uttered before she made her way out of the closet and the room seconds later.

She had enough. Lexa really destroyed everything she had build in the past few weeks and Clarke gave up her time that she could’ve spent with her friends with Lexa, thinking that she was her perfect match, but she just wasn’t. Clarke really wanted to blame it all on her, but she didn’t stop her from keeping her away from her friends. She had been the one that didn’t greet her friends anymore, not Lexa, and it was wrong. It wasn’t hard handling both friendships and a relationship but of course she fucked up both. That’s why she never had a lot of friends and why she preferred causal hook-ups rather than being in a relationship.

She had no idea how everything would go from now on, but there were things she knew; Finn and Lexa weren’t her match, Bellamy forgave her, and she needed to have a talk with her friends. Clarke sighed. She wasn’t ready for this and had no idea where to stay either, but she knew that she now had to keep searching for her perfect match.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 3, Day 18 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 9 pm.

The past two days were… interesting.

Bellamy actually spent most of the time with Murphy, Monty, Lincoln, Harper, Maya, Sasha _and Clarke_. The other six were glad that Clarke finally made her way back into their group and welcomed her with open arms, but that couldn’t be said for everybody.

Raven, Octavia, Emori, Miller, Jasper and Roan didn’t agree with the fact that they took her back that easily which divided _La Familia_ in two different groups. None of them really enjoyed this situation, especially not Clarke. She blamed herself for coming back to them and dividing the group, but Murphy assured her that it would be better in a few days.

But, even now, Bellamy was in his seat, close to Murphy, Monty and Lincoln while the others actually kept ignoring them. To their third Matching Ceremony, Bellamy decided to wear the outfit he wore to his date with Maya; khaki cargo pants, white shirt and sneakers. But, this time he chose to leave his glasses at the house.

As soon as every guy, including Lexa, sat down, Aryana opened the ceremony with sending in all the girls and Jackson.

Bellamy turned his head to the side, looking at the rest of the group who entered the winter garden. He actually tried to spot his sister first, but there was someone who was wearing a red dress that stood out of the whole group. When he noticed who wore that dress he had to roll his eyes, yet, he couldn’t help it but smirk a little. It was _Clarke_.

She had pulled her hair up into a messy bun and even if he didn’t want to keep looking at her, his eyes swept down to her breasts that looked fantastic in this dress, just as her curves. Bellamy shook his head and really turned his attention to his sister who was wearing the sports strip zip dress she once got from Roma to her birthday. Next to her stood Raven who dressed up in a rose satin dress, again, with a slit on the left leg.

Actually, all of the girls looked amazing tonight. Bellamy didn’t know if they decided all together to dress up as best as they could, but even if they didn’t, he knew shit was about to go down tonight.

"Alright." Aryana begun, clapping her hands together, standing behind the podium. "Now, that the whole group is here, let’s start with your third Matching Ceremony!"

"We better not fuck it up tonight." Miller shouted from where he was sitting. Bellamy spun his head to him, trying to face him again after two days of silence, but Miller didn’t look back at him, just kept his gaze at the host.

"Oh yeah, I hope so, too." Aryana replied. She motioned her hand to the people standing on the stage. "Jackson, you’re the first."

Unsurprisingly, he chose Miller as his perfect match. Octavia followed, who picked Lincoln. They made their way back to the seat Lincoln sat in before, but Bellamy knew that Octavia still kept her distance from the older one. He hated seeing this happening only because of the whole drama that happened. Even after Emori called up Murphy to lock into the system as a match, she just walked back to his seat without waiting for him. God, how would everything be fine again?

Harper was up next and picked Jasper, which wasn’t surprising either.

The host called Clarke to the front seconds later and she made her way towards her, pulling her dress down a bit as soon as she stopped in front of the podium. Bellamy had to smile.

"So, Clarke, I heard you had a rough week?" Aryana asked.

Clarke nodded and turned a bit to the side, looking at him and the others that were sitting on the seats before she did the same thing with the rest of the group that stood on the stage where she just came from. She faced the host again before she started speaking.

"Yeah, nothing really turned out how I wanted it to go…"

"Guess, that’s what you get for being a bitch to your friends." Octavia shouted, turning everyone’s attention to her.

Bellamy could only roll his eyes at how stupid this situation became. Now, it definitely felt like a reality show.

"O, let it go." He said, still annoyed by the fact that she just said that out loud.

Clarke sent him a light smile which he returned before she turned back to the host. "Whatever, I said it so often already and will say it again and again. I’m sorry for what happened and I’ll try my best to work this all out."

Aryana nodded. "Okay, Clarke, who’s your perfect match for tonight, then?"

That was a good question. Bellamy knew that she ended things between her and Lexa after everything that happened, mostly because of her. And it wasn’t like she had a lot of free options to pick from, especially after their group divided itself. He just hoped that she would make the right call.

The blonde turned around, sweeping her eyes over the people that sat on the seats before she pointed at him.

"Tonight, my perfect match is Bellamy." She said.

While Bellamy had to gather in that she just said his name, everyone turned towards him. He was slightly confused, since they both didn’t think that they would be each other’s match, but there wasn’t much for him to do. She picked him and he had to get up to lock it into the system. So, he did.

As soon as he took the spot next to Clarke, Aryana swept her eyes between the both of them then smiled tenderly. It slightly confused him but there wasn’t much time to think about it since the host turned serious again and turned her attention to him.

“So, Bellamy. Your friends weren’t quite happy with how things went, but you still decided to forgive her. Pretty quick actually. Why?”

Bellamy raked his fingers through his hair before he looked at Clarke for a second. She had her eyes fixed on him and the expression on her face showed him that she was curious about that, too. But, God, he had no idea why his anger at her faded so fast... yet he had to explain it anyway.

“To be honest I’m not so sure myself but I knew that me and my friends weren’t fair towards her. I mean, we’re here to find our perfect match and that’s what she was doing, we can’t blame her for that,” he stopped himself.

He didn’t want to ramble but he wasn’t done yet. „Sure, it hurt and I can understand why my sister is still mad at her but she thinks her perfect match is Lincoln who always is with us. Lexa was never a part of our group so Clarke had to- sorry, I’m going too far.”

Aryana laughed and shook her head. “Continue. Times not running and I don’t think you would talk your problems out in the house.”  

Bellamy nodded before he continued. “Right... Lexa never spent time with us. She has her own people and I don’t think she wanted to be around us either. So, Clarke was in a position where she had to decide. I’m not saying that she should’ve done that but it turned out like this and,” he turned around a little bit, looking at Clarke this time.

“I want to apologize again for being an ass. We all did some things wrong based on this whole situation but you shouldn’t feel bad about it or blame yourself. I hope you know that.”

The blonde parted her lip a bit but closed them again and just sent him a light smile. He returned it easily then turned back to the host.

“Now I‘m done.”

Aryana nodded. “I hope you guys figure out your problems. It doesn’t help you and not the other participants. It’s okay to build friendships but keep in mind why you guys are here,“ she pointed to the monitor next. “Lock into the system.”

They placed their hands on the monitor and locked in. Bellamy placed his hand on the small of Clarke’s back as they made their way back to his seat. He sat down first and thought for a moment that he should scoot to the side, but the seat was too small and he didn’t want to feel uncomfortable right now. So, he just motioned her to sit down on his lap whereupon she widened her eyes for a brief moment, before turning around and sitting on his lap. Bellamy wrapped his arm around her hip and pulled her a bit closer, so she could lean back.

Clarke turned her face to him, sweeping her eyes over his face. Bellamy furrowed his brows lightly and wanted to ask her what’s wrong but she was faster.

“Thank you for... what you just said but you know you didn’t have to do that right? I told you already they don’t have to forgive me... It’s okay.“ she said quietly, just enough so he could hear.

He turned his attention to the front for a second, seeing Sasha and Monty getting locked into the system as a match. He faced Clarke again and shook his head, grinning a bit, which made her smile herself and look away.

“Stop saying that. I just wanted to let you know.”

Clarke turned her head back to him and smiles, nodding slightly.

“Okay,” was everything she said before she turned her attention back to what was happening around them, just like him.

Luna picked Roan next, which was kind of surprising to Bellamy, but he didn’t give it much of a thought. What surprised him even more was that Echo chose Zeke as her perfect match. They never had a conversation and by the reaction of his friend, he couldn’t believe that she picked him, either.

Costia was next and picked Lexa. Again, wasn’t shocking at all. Maya chose Wells, which wasn’t the first time, so they could be a potential match, but what came out of it, wasn’t great.

Raven had to lock into the system with Finn, even though they already knew that they weren’t a perfect match. It was hella annoying and fucked up the ceremony already, because that meant that one beam would definitely be gone.

"Well, that’s it. Y’all picked the person who might be your perfect match and as you know, the only way to figure out who it is, is sending a pair into the Truth Booth. But, let’s take a look at our wonderful light beams." Aryana chipped.

With that, she turned around and the lights went off. Bellamy hoped that they would get more beams this time than they had last week, but nothing that happened this week was actually amazing, so he went with the worst. Well, not really. He believed that they would get two beams, standing for Miller and Jackson, and Murphy and Emori. He was sure that the two couples were a perfect match and no one could convince him otherwise. And then, it happened.

 _One beam_.

Like always at the first beam, everyone started clapping and cheering.

"One beam, Ladies and Gentlemen! No Blackout!" Aryana shouted.

Everyone calmed down again, waiting for the next beam to light up. No blackout wasn’t enough for them. They needed more beams that lit up and a confirmed perfect match through the Truth Booth. Otherwise, nothing would work and they would lose all the money. And they needed it, they all did.

Bellamy placed his forehead against Clarke’s back and closed his eyes. He wasn’t quite sure why he was starting to feel anxious, but he was. This whole Dating Show would be the death of him. He took a deep breath before he felt Clarkes hand on top of his and how she locked their fingers together. He didn’t pull his hand back, just prayed to all the ancient and new Gods, wishing for a second beam. That’s all he wanted. And when everyone started shrieking again, he knew that there was another one.

"Your _second beam_ for tonight, guys! You’re back in the game." Aryana yelled over the cheering of their group.

Bellamy lifted his head and took a look at the second beam that was now lit up. He had no idea if they would get another one, but it would be so good for them. They really lost hope in the last week and all they wanted was to be better than they had been before.

Clarke turned to face him and sent him a light smile. "You okay?"

He nodded as he squeezed her hand, motioning her that he really was. He got a bit hotter, probably because of the weather, but he would survive it until the ceremony was over. Clarke looked at him for a few seconds before she turned her head back around to the front. Just then, a miracle happened.

 _Another beam_.

People around Clarke and him jumped up, celebrating their third beam for the night. Just as the others, Bellamy couldn’t believe that this was happening. They actually had three beams just as many as they had in their first week. He had no idea how they were able to get those in such a bad week.

"Fuck it, five beams tonight, I’m calling it now!" Jasper shouted from the seat he was standing on. Bellamy shook his head, but smiled anyway, before he turned his attention back to the front, waiting for another beam to light up.

And then, the _fourth beam_ lit up.

Clarke now jumped up from his lap and cheered with all the others. She hugged Harper while Jasper jumped off the seat and pushed it from its place. They really had four beams. Fuck it, everything that happened this week, happened for a reason. Bellamy couldn’t stop smiling and since Clarke left his lap, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, covering his mouth with his hand.

He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, so he let go off his face and turned his head to the side, only to meet Miller’s gaze. Bellamy sent him a quizzing look which Miller waved off as he sent him a smile.

"Sorry, man, I-" He got cut off by screams that filled the whole garden.

Bellamy turned his head back to the front and got up himself when he saw the _fifth beam_ that lit up.

"Shut the fuck up, I told y’all five beams!" Jasper yelled after letting Aryana go who he just hugged a few moments ago.

Miller patted Bellamy’s shoulder before he made his way back to Jackson. As if Clarke waited for Miller to leave, she ran up to him from where she just hugged Murphy, and pulled him into a hug, her arms around his neck. It was kind of surprising, but life seemed to be good after all, so he hugged her back and placed his head on her shoulder.

Just as Clarke let go off him, the light turned on again. But, nobody cared about it coming to an end. They just got five beams after two shitty weeks; They didn’t care about getting more at the moment and by taking a look at the host, Bellamy knew that she was proud of them too.

"Amazing job, you guys. I guess you should have drama for a whole week more often! Go home, play some music, and get your drinks! You deserve it!" Aryana said proudly.

Yeah, they really did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was... a lot, i do believe. thoughts on this one? did bellamy make the right call with forgiving clarke? and what about the ones who didn't? any ideas how it'll turn out? - comments!! 
> 
> much love xx


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey again!
> 
> not much to say this time, so let's just straight up get into it!

Week 4, Day 19 – Monday. Los Angeles. 11 am.

Bellamy had been awake since 6 am, rolling from side to side, back to laying on his stomach or spine. It was too hot for him to fall asleep again and if he did, his sleep never lasted longer than twenty minutes before waking up again. He was tired. Everything hurt, his heart was racing and he was sweating.

Now, five hours passed and he was _still_ in bed, the other person who newly shared the bed with him not there anymore. Bellamy really wanted to get up, but only because he knew he had to at some point. He wasn’t hungry at all, but he wanted to take a shower after having sweat this badly, even though it showed no signs of stopping either.

He should’ve know the moment he started feeling bad and hot at the Matching Ceremony, but sure, he just ignored it and drank way too much when they got home and celebrated their five beams. Just by thinking of how much he actually drank yesterday, made him fight back the urge to throw up.

Bellamy didn’t want anyone to take care of him, so when Zeke and Murphy asked him if everything was fine, he told them that it was normal for him to be hot at times like these; when the sun was shining and it was mid thirty degrees, especially after a long night of drinking and partying. They told him to meet them downstairs as soon as he would be over his hangover and left him to die. Just like all the other guys he shared the room with. So now, he was all alone, ready to die and face the afterlife.

God, he hated being sick. Whenever he was, he thought he might be dying. He snorted at himself and turned around on his stomach, arm under his pillow as he put his head on top of it. He was such a baby when sick, thank God no one noticed that he actually was and he had to take care of himself now. No need to let anybody see him like this.

_Alright_ , he thought and rolled back on his spine, looking at the ceiling. He had to get a water bottle first before going to take a cold shower, then changing the bedsheets and laying back down. He could do that, right?

Bellamy sighed and sat up while running his hand through his hair. _Disgusting_. He got up and regretted it immediately. Literally, _everything_ hurt. How was he supposed to get through this week? If it already started this badly, it would probably end exactly the way it begun. Again, he asked himself why he got punished. For what? What did he do this time?

He groaned, but made his way out of the room, strolling his way through the hallway. From here, he could hear people talking happily. How could people be this happy in the morning on such a hot and shitty day? He stopped in his tracks, just right in front of the stairs when he noticed that he usually made breakfast for the group. Great, he left them hanging only because he was sick and acting as if he was close to his death only at the age of twenty-four.

Bellamy rolled his eyes before he went downstairs, strolling into the kitchen, not looking at anyone but just raising his hand briefly to say hello. He made his way to the fridge, ignoring whoever was talking at the moment and took out all the ingredients he needed to make waffles. Just as he closed the fridge and turned around, walking to the kitchen island and placing everything on it, someone leaned over the counter and tilted his head up by his chin. Obviously, it was Clarke.

‘‘You look ugly.’’ She said, furrowing her brows slightly.

‘‘Thanks.’’ Bellamy murmured, not in the mood for having a conversation in the current state he was in. He felt like he was about to collapse, but he had to keep his shit together so the group had something to eat.

‘‘You’re sweating, Bellamy.’’ Clarke pointed out.

‘‘I know,’’ was all he replied before cracking the eggs into the bowl in front of him.

Clarke let go off his face and jumped off the bar stool then made her way towards him. Bellamy rolled his eyes, annoyed by the fact that she wanted to take care of him, _again_. He knew he acted like a child, but that didn’t give her the right to take care of him. He didn’t need help; He could handle whatever he had on his own and it would probably pass in two days anyway. He was fine.

The blonde took his hands away from the bowl and shoved him over to the sink with her hip. Bellamy wanted to protest, but he was too tired and sick to do that, so he just let her take over. She washed his hands, taking the egg yolk off his fingers as she begun speaking.

‘‘You have to stay in bed. Take a cold shower first and do not lay in bed before I come upstairs and change the sheets. You probably sweat through them all.’’ Clarke demanded as she turned off the water and dried his hands with a towel.

Bellamy rolled his eyes. ‘‘Yes, ma’am.’’

Clarke sighed, but let go off his hands and motioned him to go upstairs which he did seconds later. He took to the stairs slowly with the thought of just plopping down on the bed but Clarke was right. He should take a cold shower first and that was what he would do.

# # # # # # # # # # 

As soon as Bellamy disappeared behind the wall, Clarke turned on her heels and faced Zeke who was now sitting on the bar stool she had been sitting on a few minutes ago. She just cocked her head to the side and chewed on her lip, not sure if Zeke understood what she wanted to say out loud. But, he just nodded and got up before he walked over to the other side of the kitchen island and stood next to her.

‘‘Do you know what he wanted to make?’’ He asked her whereupon she shook her head.

‘‘I have no idea, just do something that comes to your head. In the meantime, I’ll go make sure that he’s doing fine.’’

Zeke nodded and threw the eggs in the bin before he started cleaning the bowl. ‘‘Ask Murphy to check on him while he’s taking his shower. I’m sure you actually don’t want to see him naked.’’

_You have no idea_ , she thought, but shook her head lightly to push the thought out of her mind. They were friends now and he was sick, no need to think of Bellamy being naked right now, water running over his broad shoulders down to his arms and toned-

‘‘Clarke?’’ She snapped out of her thoughts and face Zeke again, who had a worried look on his face. ‘‘You alright?’’

She nodded and grabbed a cold water bottle out of the fridge. ‘‘Yeah, I’ll go and get his bed ready. Thank you for taking over.’’

Zeke smiled and waved her off. ‘‘It’s fine, I’ll tell Murphy myself. Go and take good care of him.’’

Clarke nodded before she made her way upstairs, feeling kind of bad for fantasizing about a sick Bellamy. She was better than this and nobody said she actually wanted to have sex with him again, but he was hot, okay? Who wouldn’t think of him standing under the shower?

She shook her head and opened the door to the room. Luckily, everyone was downstairs right now, so she could take her time and prepare everything for Bellamy. She entered the room and closed the door behind her before she walked over to his bed. It looked as messy as she expected it to be. Clarke smiled to herself as she started taking off the covers and pillows and threw them on the floor. The bedsheet followed only seconds later.

The blonde made her way to the closet next and got new ones. All of this made her feel like being at a summer camp rather than being at a mansion because of a reality show, but on the other hand, she liked that they were kind of independent, too. They cleaned on their own, went to a supermarket not far away from the house where they stayed, and were actually on their own. The only thing that made her, and others, too, feel a bit uncomfortable, was the fact that there were cameras everywhere, except for the bathrooms and bedrooms. She definitely got used to that, but sometimes she had to remind herself that probably a million people would be watching them as they tried to figure out who was who’s perfect match.

Clarke finished changing the bedsheets in less than ten minutes, then looked around to see if there was anything else she could do. When she noticed some clothes lying in front of Bellamy’s nightstand, she bent forward and took them only to place them on top of the bed. She stood there for a few minutes before she just sighed and started folding them. She didn’t even know what she was doing, especially because she always used to be the messy one, but Bellamy was sick and he probably wouldn’t take care of his part of the room himself.

As soon as she finished with that, she walked back to the closet, but stopped in the middle of it, noticing that she had no idea which drawer belonged to him. Sure, she could wait for him to come back, but again, she wanted him to lay down as soon as he would be out of the shower. Well, after drinking half of the water bottle, obviously.

Clarke sighed and put the folded clothes on top of the first dresser before she pulled each drawer open, only to find out which one was Bellamy’s. When she reached the dresser to the left of the door and opened the first drawer, she recognize the navy Henley Bellamy wore at the second Matching Ceremony. She walked back to the first dresser, took his clothes and placed them inside his drawer, before closing it again. _Done_ , she thought as she smiled to herself.

Actually, she didn’t know why she just did that. When her clothes were lying around on the floor, she didn’t even look at them and just added more on the ground. _Hypocritical_.

The blonde was about to leave the closet just as Bellamy entered the closet with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Clarke wanted to die. Seeing him like this didn’t help her push away the thoughts she had half an hour ago, yet, she had to try and focus on how he was feeling. Bellamy _did_ look much better than before, but there was still a difference in looks and… well feeling.

Bellamy closed the door behind him before he walked towards her and even though Clarke knew she should get out of the way, so he could get some fresh clothes, she didn’t. She just stayed in front of the dresser and watched how he stopped right in front of her. He looked down at her, tiredness written all over his face. Clarke felt _bad_. Bad enough to turn him around and push him towards the door. She grabbed the handle of it and opened it.

‘‘Go, I’ll bring you something to wear.’’ She demanded, whereupon Bellamy just groaned.

Clarke sighed and pushed him towards his bed. Midway, she stopped in her tracks when the realization of her hands placed on his naked back hit her. Bellamy didn’t seem to care about that and just kept walking towards his bed before he dropped down on it, pressing his head against the pillow. She really had to get her shit together if everything should work out; her taking care of him, rebuilding their friendship and getting back together with the other half of their little group.

She snapped out of her state and muttered a little ‘right’ to herself before she made her way back to the closet and went straight to get some clothes for Bellamy. Her taking care of him right now probably wasn’t the best idea, but she knew he wouldn’t let anybody else do that, so it had to be her.

As soon as she grabbed some briefs, a basic tank top and some sweats out of his drawer, she made her way out of the door and walked back to Bellamy. She sat down on the bed as she placed his clothes on his nightstand. After what happened some seconds ago, she didn’t want to cross any more lines, so she just cleared her throat whereupon Bellamy turned his head to the side, opening one of his eyes to look at her.

‘‘Mhm?’’

Clarke smiled lightly before she pointed to the nightstand. ‘‘Brought you your clothes.’’ Bellamy huffed and closed his eyes again, probably ready to fall asleep, but Clarke wouldn’t let that happen. Not before he drank half of the water bottle and was lying in bed comfortably. ‘‘Come on, Bellamy, just wear them.’’

The blonde got up again and made her way to the window where she then pulled the curtains in front of it, so it would be darker in the room, and with that, hopefully colder, too. When she turned back around, Bellamy was already wearing the pants she got him and was now putting on the shirt. She definitely didn’t look at the way his back muscles flexed. She _didn’t_.

Clarke strolled back to the bed and took the water bottle from the nightstand and waited for Bellamy to sit down, which he did seconds later. She stepped in between his legs and handed him the bottle. He looked up at her, clearly exhausted, but took it out of her hand anyway before downing almost half of the water. Clarke smiled proudly as she took the bottle back and placed it on the nightstand again. Meanwhile, Bellamy got under the blanket, showing her his backside.

God, she didn’t like seeing him like this. He clearly wasn’t feeling well and there wasn’t much for her to do at the moment other than letting him sleep for a while. So, she decided that it was time for her to go. He needed to get some sleep and she would only disturb him from doing so.

‘‘I’m leaving now, okay?’’ she asked quietly.

‘‘Uh-huh.’’ Bellamy murmured as response.

Clarke chewed on her lip for a while, not sure if she really should leave him like this, but she would make sure that he was fine in a few hours. And if she would be occupied at that time, she could send Murphy or Zeke to look after him. _Yeah_ , she thought. That’s how she would handle this situation.

So, she turned on her heels and made her way to door which she opened almost immediately when she reached it. She walked out of the room and was about to close the door when she heard Bellamy speaking out her name softly. Clarke stopped and turned around again as she pushed the door open, stepping into the room, slowly.

‘‘Yeah?’’ she asked, desperately waiting for what he was going to say.

Clarke could see how Bellamy turned around on his spine, facing her. He didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity and his facial expression didn’t give her any clues either. She really started questioning if he lost his voice, because it took him so long to answer.

The blonde fully entered the room, her hand still holding the door handle as she kept waiting for Bellamy to say anything, but he didn’t. He just sat up and ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. Then, he finally spoke.

‘‘This is awkward.’’

Now, Clarke bit her lip again, unsure of what would come next. She didn’t expect him to talk about anything other than being sick right now, but she could understand that it was awkward, not only for him, but for her, too. Sure, they spent time together again, but just when other people were around, too, like Harper, Monty, Maya… and now they were all alone and she was taking care of him. She could imagine how it must feel for him, especially because he didn’t like it when people took care of him. He told her herself; he was the servant and others… _she_ was the princess.

Clarke was ready to ask him what exactly was awkward for him, only to know if she was right about her thoughts and feelings, but he was faster. And if she was being honest, she didn’t expect _that_.

‘‘I’ll probably regret this as soon as I’m fine again, but would you mind staying? I was alone for- I don’t even know how long. I mean, not really since you and I- anyway, I could really use some company.’’ Bellamy uttered.

Clarke blinked for a few seconds before she sent him a light smile and nodded. ‘‘Sure,’’ she said as she closed the door behind her. She walked back to his bed and sat on top of the blanket, leaning her back against the headboard. ‘‘If you need anything, just tell me.’’

Bellamy nodded and laid back down, this time on his stomach, and closed his eyes. ‘‘Thanks.’’

Clarke snorted. ‘‘No need to.’’

‘‘Mhm.’’ _God_ , he was really adorable and she hated him for that.

She placed her head against the headboard, too and closed her eyes herself, thinking about the past days, _again_. So much happened that she still had to fully realize and analyze, as the person she was. But, where should she start? By how Lexa started being possessive about her? How she abandoned her friends for someone who wasn’t her perfect match after all? She didn’t actually want to think about it, because it _hurt_ , but in order to get back to where she and her friends had been at the beginning, she had to find out how and why all of this happened.

‘‘Clarke?’’ Bellamy said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She turned her head around and looked down at him, only to find him already looking up to her, as usual.

‘‘What do you need?’’ she asked.

‘‘Ugh,’’ was all he said before he got up and pulled the blanket over the spot he just laid on.

Clarke frowned as she tried to figure out what he was doing. Bellamy needed to spend a lot of time in bed so he could get better. She had no idea if he actually understood that, and apparently he didn’t, since he sat down next to her.

‘‘Bellamy, what-’’ He just waved her off and laid down sideways on top of the blanket, head placed on her lap. He didn’t say anything, just stayed like this without explanation.

The blonde didn’t know how to handle this situation and just sat there for like five minutes before she decided that it was fine. She sat on his lap already, slept walked to him and they cuddled, too. So, what was one more?

She sighed and raked her fingers through his hair over and over again, sometimes massaging his scalp, too. Not long after she begun doing so, she heard the little sounds he used to make whenever he was sleeping, and she had to smile slightly to herself. She kept running her fingers through his hair the whole time that he was asleep. There was no doubt that he would feel better the next day, she knew it. He was going to be fine again and not only him, but their group, too.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 4, Day 20 – Tuesday. Los Angeles. 5 pm.

Surprisingly, considering the temperature and humidity in L.A., Bellamy felt better the next day. Not much better, though, but it was enough to be able to be around his friends again. Thanks to Clarke, obviously. She really did a great job of taking care of him and he just had to ask her why she was this good at doing so. She just told him that her mum was a doctor and actually, she should’ve studied medicine, but decided against it, knowing that it wouldn’t make her happy. He liked the fact that she did what she wanted and made her feel good. Sure, making money with art wasn’t that easy, but her sketches were incredible, so he could only imagine that she would be able to gain a lot from doing art.

Currently, Clarke was sitting next to him on his bed, sketching her surroundings. She didn’t like being observed and every time Bellamy swept his eyes over the sketchbook, she pulled it against her chest and glared at him. He thought it was funny, but never said anything.

Bellamy realized that he actually had missed her the whole time she had been gone, spending her time with Lexa who didn’t really pay mind to Clarke anymore. But, obviously, he wouldn’t tell her that. It would just make things between the two of them awkward, again, and it was already enough that their friend group divided into two different ones.

He hated it, he really did. Especially, because Octavia, Raven and Miller were on the other end of the hallway, spending their time with Jasper, Roan and Emori, only because Clarke was back. The point was that Clarke apologized and really tried her best. In the mornings, she went up to the other half of the group first and said her good mornings or walked over to them with two cups of coffee in her hand, but either Octavia or Raven just walked away or all of them acted like she never even existed.

It’s frustrating, because Bellamy wanted everything to be like before, but, he still could understand why Miller and the others needed time to forgive Clarke for her actions. That was absolutely fine and he wouldn’t force anyone to forgive her, immediately. But, she said what she meant and seeing the sadness on her face at times made him feel bad. He had to do something so all of this bullshit could stop, but right now, he was good where he was.

Zeke and Lincoln were sitting on the bed across from him, talking about something Bellamy wasn’t able to hear. Harper, Maya and Sasha were sitting on the floor, leaning against the end of the bed. Murphy and Monty weren’t sitting far away from him and Clarke either, just on the bed right next to them, their bodies turned towards the whole group. At some point, Zeke and Lincoln stopped talking, too, so, the only thing that was filling the room with sounds was Clarke’s pencil scratching against her paper.

Usually, they always had something to talk about, especially when Jasper was there, but now… well, he wasn’t. But, it wasn’t surprising that they weren’t talking that much, why would it be? Lincoln, Harper, Maya and Sasha didn’t talk much in general. Monty was more likely to talk actively when Jasper was around and Murphy had his own issues going on with Emori while Zeke couldn’t say much either; Just like him and Clarke. But to be fair, the silence didn’t make Bellamy uncomfortable, not at all. He felt like he might be able to fall asleep if he would lay down, instead of sitting up. And, the fact that he only slept five hours really made him consider doing so, but then, Murphy cleared his throat, turning everyone’s attention to him.

“So, any ideas of how we’re going to work this situation out?”

Clarke next to him placed her sketchbook down, giving him a great view of what she drew, but turned the book around quickly when she noticed his gaze. To his luck, he had been able to take enough in and knew that she drew them; her and her friends sitting around in the room together. It was kinda adorable, though, he had to admit, but on the other hand it made him feel bad for her and the others. Knowing that she most likely preferred having a picture of all of them. God, in times like these Bellamy missed his phone, even though he wasn’t that type of person who used his mobile twenty-four seven.

“I have no idea, we have to come up with something, because knowing that Octavia doesn’t talk to me, only because I forgave Clarke for what happened, makes me feel miserable.” Lincoln admitted.

Bellamy nodded to himself, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant. His sister didn’t talk to him either and whenever he tried, she blocked him out and told him to leave her alone. He knew that it would take time for her to forgive Clarke, he knew that right from the beginning, but now it was just getting ridiculous. The only thing Octavia asked him was if he was doing fine, because Jasper told her that Monty spoke to him and said that he was sick. So, no one from the other part of their family actually made their way up to him to see if everything was fine. Not his sister, not Raven nor Miller. No one. Well, that should be great.

“Listen, guys…” Clarke started and Bellamy wanted to groan. He knew exactly what was about to come and he just wanted to cut her off by… whatever. “This is my fault and I’ll try to fix this, seriously. I don’t want my problems to get reflected on you only because you decided to give me another chance. I-”

“Clarke, stop this nonsense.” Monty said, waving her off. “It’s _not_ your fault that they’re behaving childishly and want to keep you away from us. You already apologized way too much and each one of us makes mistakes. You actually only played the game, which all of us are supposed to do. This is a Dating Show, we are supposed to find our perfect match and not build friendships. Yet, here we are, even if it helps none of the other participants. But, we chose to do this, so we shouldn’t get hurt if someone from the group leaves us for a bit to do their job.” Monty said, matter-of-factly.

Murphy whistled in response, patting Monty’s shoulder. Bellamy just thanked God for blessing him with getting to know a person like Monty, because he just said out loud everything he wanted Clarke to hear. That was it. There wasn’t much more behind the whole situation, but apparently, only the people that he was surrounded with were understanding that and it was frustrating. He knew that Raven was smart enough to get that, but she was probably way too hurt by Clarke after the Finn drama that led to the Lexa drama. Geez, sometimes he wished all of this didn’t happen, but then again, good things came out of it and well… some things didn’t.

“He’s right, though.” Zeke added, sending over a light smile to Clarke. “You were just doing what we have to do and I believe that seeing you working on finding your perfect match made them… I don’t know if it really fits, but jealous, maybe? Could be something like that.”

Harper nodded and Bellamy thought she would add something to the actual topic of the conversation, but instead, she opened another topic which was… quite embarrassing.

“Where did you sleep the last couple days? Like I mean… after Friday?” She asked.

Bellamy had no clue why he started wishing that Clarke would leave the second part out, but when he side eyed her, she didn’t even seem to really think about what Harper just questioned and especially not about what she was going to answer.

“Slept in the living room,” _thank God_. “but only until Sunday. Bellamy let me sleep in his bed with him after Sunday to now, actually.”

Bellamy thought he would be embarrassed if she brought this up, but he wasn’t. Nothing about the way he was feeling changed, because, where else should she have slept? The couch wouldn’t be comfortable for an extended period of time; He already told her that once he found out and the ‘Boom-Boom’ room wasn’t an option, either, since _anyone_ could use it at night to have sex.

So, he just decided to let her share the bed with him, since Miller left the room to stay with Jackson Sunday evening and until now, he didn’t decide to sleep in their room again. He still had his stuff in his drawer, though and kept walking in and out, but until now, neither Bellamy nor his friends were annoyed by it. It was still Miller’s room and he was allowed to enter it whenever he wanted.

Harper raised her eyebrow as she swept her eyes from Clarke to him. Bellamy didn’t know what he expected to hear next, but gladly Harper wasn’t the one to talk next. Instead of her, Maya took the chance to add something, to their new topic.

“Even though that’s nice of him… didn’t you get infected? I mean, because he’s ill, you know?”

Bellamy side eyed Clarke, taking a look at her facial expression, and if he knew one thing about her already, it was the fact that her chewing on her lips was a nervous habit of hers or… well.

“No, I’m not. But, that’s because having a fever isn’t infectious,” she answered.

Maya smiled in response then shrugged her shoulders herself. “Well, good for you.”

After that, they dropped the topic and changed it to something uninteresting, so Bellamy drifted off, thinking about how Monty and Murphy were looking at him when Clarke mentioned that she had been sleeping in a bed with him since Sunday. He knew they would bomb him with questions as soon as they actually got the time to do so, especially because they had no idea what had been going on between Clarke and him before the whole drama. And, it should stay like this, since it wasn’t anybody’s business _and_ they got distracted by hooking up with each other instead of looking for their perfect match.

Without even realizing what he was actually doing, Bellamy looked over to Clarke, but instead of looking at in her face, his eyes swept to her cleavage. He really wanted to keep his gaze off her breasts, but he just couldn’t. Just by looking at them he wanted to tell everyone to get the fuck out of the room so he could fuck _her_ , but no. Firstly, because he was sick. Secondly because they stopped for good reasons and he didn’t want to use her for sex, either. Actually, it surprised him that she liked casual hook-ups, since she was adorable and seemed to be a good girl.

God, he needed to clear his mind, so he got up and pulled his sweats up a bit.

“I’m going to grab some water. Does anyone want me to get something else?” Bellamy questioned.

“Nah, I don’t need anything.” Murphy muttered.

Bellamy looked around, waiting for anybody else’s reaction, but nobody said anything or motioned him with shaking their heads that they didn’t need him to bring them something. He nodded, more to himself than to his friends and walked towards the door before he heard someone jump off a bed. Bellamy stopped in his tracks and turned back around to everyone, only to see Clarke walking to him.

“I won’t let you go alone. There’s always the possibility of you fainting,” she explained her behaviour.

Bellamy wanted to add something and was almost about to do so, but Zeke stopped him by throwing himself into their conversation.

“God, you two are acting like parents. Bellamy is always taking care of all of us, his children, while Clarke takes care of Bellamy, as if she’s his wife. Parents.”

Murphy snorted but didn’t try to hide the smirk that followed. “Guess this boy is speaking the truth.”

Clarke groaned in front of him before she showed their friends her middle finger as she motioned him to get going. There wasn’t much for Bellamy to add, so he just shrugged his shoulders and turned around with a little smirk on his face as he opened the door and held it open for Clarke.

“After you, wifey,” he joked.

While Clarke passed him, she sent him a glare, whereupon he actually laughed. She was real cute whenever she tried to act tough, annoyed, or mad at anything that he said or did to her. She probably didn’t even realize that herself, but if she kept behaving like this, he would definitely tell her that at one point.

Bellamy closed the door behind him before he followed Clarke downstairs to the kitchen. They went down in silence but didn’t really pay attention to their surroundings either until the made it to the kitchen.

“You just wanted water, right?” Clarke asked him as she walked to the fridge while he sat down on one of the bar stools.

“Yeah, I mean that’s what you told me is best for me, so,” he replied, placing his elbows on top of the kitchen island in front of him, never letting her out of sight.

Clarke closed the fridge as soon as she grabbed a bottle out of it and crossed over to stand next to him. Bellamy didn’t know why, but as soon as she did, he turned around and took the water bottle out of her hand.

“Thanks,” he said, winking at her before he took a sip.

“Ugh,” Clarke started before she took a step closer, standing now right in between his legs and removed something off his shirt. “You’re so annoying sometimes.”

Now, Bellamy really had to let out a snicker after placing the bottle on the counter right next to him. He shifted his head up to take a look at the girl that was standing in front of him, but since she was distracted by something, he wasn’t able to meet her eyes. Actually, she wasn’t even looking at his direction, but therefore out of the window, looking at the garden.

Because Bellamy was curious of what she was seeing outside, he followed her gaze only to find his sister sitting in one of the lounges with Raven, Emori, Roan, Jasper, Miller and Jackson. Seeing them like this together, outside at _their_ usual spot, made Bellamy feel even sicker than he already was. It annoyed him that it really had to come to this point, but the fact that Octavia and Raven were currently looking at them, too, showed him that they… well, he didn’t know _what_ they were thinking and that disappointed him. They always used to know what the other one thought and now he wasn’t able to do this anymore because everything changed.

Bellamy faced Clarke again, who was still looking at the people outside, and because he knew that she was feeling bad right now and was ready to go out there only to apologize again, he lifted his hand and cupped her chin, turning her attention back to him.

Clarke furrowed her brows lightly, giving her forehead a little wrinkle in between her eyebrows, whereupon he just shook his head, let go of her chin and arched his head to the side for a brief second, never breaking eye contact with her.

“Don’t try to go out there for apologizing _again_. Just try to ignore them. They’re behaving childish,” he uttered.

As Clarke sighed and nodded, Bellamy thought it was time for them to leave again after seeing their… friends, old friends perhaps, sitting at the whole groups’ usual spot.

So, he grabbed the bottle he placed on the counter earlier before he got up. Only then he noticed how close he and Clarke actually had been and still were since she didn’t make any move backwards. Therefore, he was sure that she was able to smell his scent.

Bellamy shook his head, turning around a second later to push the stool back against the island so he would be able to take a step back. When he turned back to face Clarke, she had her eyes fixed outside again. He sighed. Enough was enough.

He used his free hand to grab Clarke’s before he passed her then pulled her with him upstairs, yet, he didn’t do it with force. Bellamy knew that it was for the better if she would only ignore and give them the time they needed to forgive her. Standing there and looking at their friends wouldn’t make things better; for none of them. It was understandable that Clarke wanted to keep trying as much as she could, but every time she would get rejected, she probably ended up being upset again, and that was what he was trying to stop.

Bellamy didn’t enjoy seeing her like this; beating herself up for the things that happened due to Lexa’s influence who didn’t even come up to them and apologize for her behaviour. He could only imagine how Clarke was feeling right now and he had to figure out how to make her feel better again.

As soon as they reached the second floor, he turned around to her, searching for any expression on her face, but she wasn’t looking at him. Clarke looked right past him, but she wasn’t focused either. She was clearly in her own world right now and to get her out of it would definitely take some time.

“Clarke,” he tried first but she didn’t show any kind of affection. He sighed as he raked his fingers through his hair, thinking of anything he could do to make her snap out of her trance. But, it was harder than he thought.

Nothing came to his mind. Well, no, actually there was something he thought could work, but if he would do it, he would definitely cross the line again. So, he decided against it and just took a few steps forwards, even though it didn’t really change the current situation.

“Clarke,” he tried again, this time his voice softer than before. As a response he got nothing again; no answer, no blinking. This couldn’t be happening.

Bellamy breathed out and went with the probably most basic thing to do in such situation, snapping his fingers in front of her face, trying to bring her back to reality. As much as he believed that this was just bullshit and wouldn’t help at all, the fourth time he snapped, right in front of her face, it actually worked.

Clarke spun her head towards him, blinking a few times before she shook her head, coming back to her own senses. She looked confused, Bellamy noticed through the wrinkle she had in between her brows. He smiled lightly before cocking his head to the side.

“You back?” The blonde nodded as she ran her hand over her face before dropping it next to her side again.

“Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.”

Bellamy snorted, waving her off. “I did notice that, but it’s fine.”

Clarke sent him a light smile before she turned sideways, looking around the hallway. “I need to go get my stuff, I didn’t do that yet. I mean, they’re all out- wait. Is this even okay for you?”

He frowned, not quite understanding what she was talking about. “What do you mean?”

Clarke turned back, facing him again before she put a strand of her hair behind her ear, looking anywhere but not meeting his eyes.

“Well, you let me sleep in your bed since I have nowhere to stay and I do believe that won’t change for-” He cut her off, shaking his head, smiling lightly.

“Oh, yeah, sure. It’s fine, don’t worry. The bed is big enough for the two of us.”

“So,” both of them spun their heads around, gaze falling on Miller and Roan who were just coming from downstairs, stopping not far away from them. “You did not only forgive her but also decided that she is now your match, Blake?”

Bellamy wasn’t sure if he was more confused by the statement Miller made or if he was annoyed by it _and_ him. Miller’s behaviour towards him changed almost every day. At first, he had been nice to him. Well, actually him and Clarke. Then, he started acting like a bitch, ignoring him and being on his sister’s side until Sunday came around.

Apparently, he was about to apologize to him at the Matching Ceremony, but all of this just seemed to be a big lie. Now, Miller was back to being annoying and a bitch and if Bellamy was being honest, he was tired of all the drama and hate affecting their friendships. If Octavia and the others wouldn’t give up and accept Clarke’s apology, there was no reason for him to try saving what kind of friendship they built.

“What do you want, Miller? Just pass and leave us the fuck alone.” Bellamy uttered.

Roan next to Miller snorted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Bellamy couldn’t believe that Roan really was on his sister’s side, too. Like, all of this didn’t make sense to him anymore and the point where he wouldn’t care anymore was closer than they probably thought. Meanwhile, Clarke had still hope for the better.

“What can I do to show you that I’m sorry, except for spending time with you and apologizing? Just tell me and I’ll do it,” she said calmly, whereupon Miller rolled his eyes.

“Come up with something yourself, Clarke.”

That was it. The two passed them before Bellamy turned around and watched them walk inside the room they kinda abandoned since the family drama started. He furrowed his brows again, confused by this whole situation and apparently, he wasn’t the only one.

“They didn’t really enter the room since Saturday…” Clarke spoke aloud.

She was right. After Saturday morning, only Bellamy and his friends used to be in that room and the others only entered when they needed to get some clothes, so it didn’t really make sense that they just walked in again.

“I don’t care about what you think and what not, you guys are having problems and it’s not our fault if your egos are too big to forgive her!”

Bellamy spun his head to Clarke who was staring at the door of their room. But, not seconds later she turned her head towards him, probably because she noticed his gaze on her.

“Bellamy-” he shook his head and held up a hand, motioning her to not go any further. He then walked towards the room, entering it with Clarke following him.

Murphy and Miller were standing in the middle of the room while Roan was packing his stuff together. So that’s why they were here. They wanted to leave the room and probably switch it up with someone. Still, he thought all of this was ridiculous and childish to only switch rooms because they had some issues that could easily be taken care of. But instead, they ignored each other and kept fighting the minute they saw each other again.

Bellamy waited until Clarke was fully inside the room before he closed the door behind them.

“What’s going on, Murphy?” she said, getting everyone’s attention, but Roan’s, Miller’s and the person she spoke to. He kept staring at Miller who was standing right in front of him, staring back at Murphy.

“I’m telling them that they’re stupid and acting like children for no reason.” Murphy replied.

“Oh, we have our reasons and they’re absolutely acceptable. But nice seeing all of you defending Clarke like she’s the new leader or God of your little group or something.” Miller said.

“That’s what friends do, idiot. Guess, that’s why you’re shit at building not only friendships, but also relationships.” Murphy shot back.

“Enough!”

Clarke shouted as she made her way towards them, pulling them away from each other. In the meantime, Roan got up and threw his bag over his shoulder, making his way towards the people standing in the middle of the bedroom. He stopped right in front of them and said something to Miller that Bellamy couldn’t understand from where he was positioned right now. But, luckily, Clarke was standing there with them, so he would probably know that later.

Bellamy crossed his arms in front of his chest the moment Miller looked away from Murphy and turned to Roan, nodding at him. He knew that it was over at this point and that it wouldn’t take them long to leave the room. And he was right.

Miller left into the closet seconds later, gathering his stuff together. From where Bellamy was standing, he could see Clarke trying to calm Murphy down, which seemed to help, because he sat down on his bed again and talked to Zeke instead of looking into the closets direction, waiting for Miller to come out of it. Clarke made her way to Harper, Maya and Sasha, sitting down next to them as she returned the smile she got from them.

Bellamy sighed, hoping that things would soon change, but he wasn’t sure if it would be that easy. He let his arms drop to his side and walked a few steps towards his bed but Roan blocked his way. Bellamy rolled his eyes before he tilted his chin at him, waiting for Roan to speak whatever was on his mind right now. The older one turned his head in the direction of the closet, then to Clarke before he looked at him again and took two steps forward, now standing next to him. Bellamy kept his gaze on the window and waited for Roan to finally talk, which he then did seconds later.

“I don’t hate you, Bellamy and I don’t hate Clarke either, but this is a reality show, a game everyone has to play,” Roan stopped himself, giving Bellamy time to fully take in what he just said, but that wasn’t even his problem. He didn’t understand where he wanted to go with this. But, it didn’t take him long to figure that out either.

“And even though I know Clarke and you are a perfect match, I want you. Since we kissed actually. But Clarke is in my way right now, so I’m against her. I wish I would be sorry.”

Bellamy closed his eyes for a few seconds, gathering in that Roan actually flirted with him before opening them again. He then turned his head to Roan, who was looking at him in all seriousness and Bellamy wanted to slap him for doing this. But, there was no time for him to respond to Roan, since Miller walked out of the closet with his bag on his shoulder, nodding his chin to Roan as he passed Bellamy to walk out of the door. Roan swept his eyes from Miller back to him, winked and followed Miller outside.

As soon as the door shut, Bellamy groaned as he rolled his eyes whilst making his way to his bed, flopping onto it. He felt sick again and he had no idea how to get rid of it. He ran a hand through his hair and laid down on his back, closing his eyes again. How would things get better from the point they were in now? Was there even a way to get out of this? Probably, but he knew that it could take a lot of time, especially if Octavia was the one who was… well kind of the one everyone was listening to.

Bellamy sighed again and rolled on his stomach, ready to face the sickness that was coming back by taking a nap. He wasn’t surprised when no one reached out to him and instead, just let him be. They all knew that he wasn’t feeling well the past couple hours and obviously the day before, so he could take a break from the drama, his feelings, from _everything_. He was ready for it and it didn’t took him long to fall asleep.

# # # # # # # # # #

6.30 pm.

Clarke really thought that things would change, change for the better, but apparently she had been stupid. _Nothing_ changed, but everything got worse.

She never felt as bad as she did the last few days and seeing the other half of her friends ignoring her and the rest of their group hurt. She could only imagine how it felt for them when she betrayed them and didn’t give them any attention. But that was exactly the reason why she wanted all of this to come to an end. Because now she understood. She didn’t understand before, but now she did and that’s why she left the room she was now staying at with Bellamy and the others (who were currently all taking a nap which was hilarious but adorable at the same time) and made her way to her old room.

Clarke didn’t know how long she was standing in front of that door, debating whether or not to really enter the room, but when the door swung open and Emori was standing in front of her, she knew there was no way back.

Her friend had a confused look on her face, clearly surprised by the fact that Clarke made a step towards them. But, that emotion switched immediately to annoyance and tiredness.

“What do you want, Clarke? Can’t you just leave us alone?” Emori asked.

Clarke shook her head, chewing on her lip for a while before she raised her voice. “No. I need to talk to you. I need to fix things.”

Emori sighed and kept looking at her. She really hoped that Emori would let her in, let her explain what actually happened and obviously why, too. And, when she saw how her friend slightly pulled the door open, she couldn’t help it but smile a little bit herself. She knew that things would get better again, not losing hope was the right decision for her to do, but, the moment she took a step inside, Raven pulled the door fully open and pushed Emori out of the way.

“What the fuck do you want here!?” she yelled. This wasn’t a good sign at all.

Clarke parted her lips lightly, ready to respond to the brunette, but Octavia came out of the room, throwing four bags out of the door.

The blonde frowned, taking longer to understand what was happening, but the moment she got it, she was near tears. Her friends were throwing Harper, Maya, Sasha and her out of the room. They were really throwing them out only for having some difficulties that could easily be discussed, but it didn’t even seem like they wanted to solve things.

Clarke sighed, again, seconds away from saying something aloud, but Octavia cut her off, motioning to the other end of the hallway.

“Take these. Leave. That isn’t that hard for you anyway, right? And make sure you tell my brother that he’s dead to me!”

She didn’t even have time to add anything, to try and solve the problems they had, because Octavia slammed the door shut behind her, Raven and Emori. She couldn’t believe this happened. She didn’t _want_ to believe that this happened, but there wasn’t anything else to do than giving them time, just like Bellamy said.

Clarke swiped away a tear that was rolling down her cheek before she leaned down to grab one of the bags. As she did so, she stopped midway, holding her stomach and her face construing into one of pain, closing her eyes. She kept standing like this for some seconds before she took a deep breath and got up again, facing the pain as she grabbed two of the bags.

She started walking towards her new room, tears rolling down her cheek with each step she took.

No, there was no way everything was going to be fine again and the fact that they would have to participate in a challenge tomorrow didn’t make things better. She was hurt, in every possible way and all she wanted to do was fly back home, laying in bed and acting as if none of this happened.

_Nothing_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> end of chapter 9.
> 
> so... as always, what are your thoughts to this one? the divide into la familia, clarke and bellamy sharing a bed, clarke's cramps... comment down below!  
> chapter 10 is next and it's kinda an important one before some of my favourite chapters are coming your way. i can't wait for you to read them!
> 
> see you soon and much love xo


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! 
> 
> i just want to say that i'm in love with your comments, i really am. every time i check on them and see different kind of opinions it makes me smile, you guys are amazing. but let me come back to that at the end of the chapter.
> 
> other than that: it wednesday and that means challenge day! a lot of things are going to change from here on and the next chapters are going to be more positive... enjoy as long as you can.

Week 4, Day 20 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 10 am.

‘‘ _Oh_ , yes! Fuck… right there!’’

‘‘Is this how you moan while having sex, Clarke? Because if so, I don’t want to hear that right now.’’ Murphy growled, but just hardened his grip on her foot.

‘‘How am I supposed to stop? You’re so good at this.’’ Clarke groaned as she held herself up on her elbows, looking at her friend that was sitting at the end of the bed.

Murphy snorted in response and let go off her foot, placing it on the bed again before he got up and stretched his back. Clarke rolled her eyes but sat up correctly and watched how Murphy sat back down next to her seconds later. She wanted to ask him something since yesterday, but she wasn’t sure if it would be too early to speak about this topic with him. To her defense, she kinda knew that he would still be kind to her and not tell her to shut up. Murphy was a great friend and she appreciated that he could be serious with her when needed. Yeah, there was no need to be afraid to ask him the question.

‘‘Hey,’’ she said, turning Murphy’s attention to her.

‘‘Yup?’’

Clarke turned around, facing him as she sat down with her legs crossed. Murphy tilted his head to the side, but that was it. He waited for her to speak first, yet, she still felt kind of unsure with how to form the sentence without being rude. God, just because of what happened she even now had to make sure that every word she said wouldn’t hurt anyone. She did hurt a lot of people and she didn’t want to lose more of her friends than she already had.

‘‘What about you and Emori?’’ she asked, not sure if she should add something to it, but Murphy didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

‘‘Right,’’ he replied as he shrugged his shoulders. ‘‘I don’t know, but it’ll be fine. She still picked me at the ceremony, didn’t she? So, it’ll be okay. Don’t worry, Clarke, it’s not your fault.’’

Clarke wanted to protest, telling him that it _had been_ her fault. Everyone knew that it was and she hated the fact that her friends tried to act like it wasn’t. Sure, she appreciated that; them standing behind her back and being there for her, but giving her false signs wasn’t better either. They should just tell her that it was her fault, because it fucking was. But, she knew they wouldn’t, so she had to try and ignore the urge to say that it was.

The blonde nodded and got up just as the door to their room opened. Not only her, but also Murphy and Harper spun their heads to the side, seeing how Bellamy walked into the room, followed by _Jasper_. Clarke frowned, not quite understanding what all of this was about and she wasn’t surprised when her friends were confused about the situation, too.

‘‘What is he doing here, Bellamy?’’ Harper questioned.

Clarke followed Bellamy’s movements as he shrugged his shoulders before closing the door. She swept her eyes over to Jasper, focusing on his facial expression and body language, which was quite interesting. He didn’t seem to feel uncomfortable, rather relaxed compared to anything that would be close to feeling like an outsider.

‘‘I don’t know, but we’ll find out as soon as the others are here.’’ Bellamy answered on his way to their bed and sat down, keeping his gaze on Jasper.

Clarke didn’t know how to feel about this. First of all, who were the others? As in their usual group, all the participants or just… them; the people that took her back and she could call friends again? She still hadn’t recovered from what happened a day ago and the night had been horrible, both physically and mentally. As soon as her eyes started tearing up, she got up in the middle of the night and went to the closet, crying over the fact that she lost her friends for being so stupid. It happened twice that night and when she had planned on getting up a third time, she couldn’t because her abdomen started hurting painfully. The stronger the pain got, the more tears rolled onto her cheek, from the pain in her stomach and for being the reason why her group of friends divided into two.

And as if she hadn’t felt bad enough before, she also had been responsible for waking Bellamy out of his sleep, because she was sobbing that hard. She wanted him to go back to sleep, told him that millions of times until he gave in and was ready to sleep again, only because she lied, telling him that she had no pain. But, when she tried to get up _another_ time, she shrieked, which turned out to be the sign for Bellamy to stay awake until she fell asleep in his arms.

In no way did Clarke feel better now. There was still this voice in her head that told her to accept the fact that her friends would never forgive her and she would end up losing everyone. She couldn’t ignore it even if she tried hard to do so. As soon as it was silent around her, the voice came back. Luckily, the pain in her abdomen faded away, but therefore, she felt sick.

‘‘Who are the others?’’ Clarke questioned as she sat down on the bed in between Murphy and Bellamy which hadn’t been a good idea. There wasn’t much space for her to sit between them, but she didn’t want to walk over to the other end of the bed either. She was too exhausted to do so but being pressed between two bodies wasn’t exciting either. ‘‘Move,’’ she told Murphy, who rolled his eyes in response, but slid a bit to the side anyway. Problem solved.

As if Bellamy had been waiting for her to get herself comfortable first, he turned his head to her as soon as she sat down correctly and answered her question.

‘‘Maya, Sasha, Monty, Zeke and Lincoln.’’

Clarke sighed. She knew having hope was ridiculous, yet, she found herself thinking that everything could turn out for the better almost every day. Now, it was just monumentally stupid of her to keep having hope.

The blonde nodded, showing Bellamy that she understood without saying a word. And again, he turned his head to the side, asking her with that one look on his face, if she was fine. He did that a lot over the first hours of the day and apparently, he wouldn’t stop. Not that she didn’t appreciate him worrying about her, but it started getting slightly annoying. She was fine… she should be.

‘‘You alright?’’ _Here we go again_ , Clarke thought as she tried hard not to roll her eyes at him. She knew he meant good and the fact that she didn’t thank him for always being there for her made her feel kind of bad, too, but sometimes he didn’t know when to stop. And it just made everything worse.

Luckily, Clarke couldn’t answer him before the door got pulled open again and the rest of her friends entered the room, keeping up their conversation and looking quite happy as they did. But, the moment they saw Jasper standing in the middle of the room, they stopped talking and their facial expression dropped to confusion, annoyance and irritation.

‘‘Did something happen?’’ Lincoln asked while Sasha was closing the door behind her.

‘‘That’s what we’re trying to find out now. Just waited for you to come.’’ Murphy replied, taking a look at Jasper who swept his eyes through the room as if he was searching for something.

Lincoln nodded in response whereupon he and the others sat down and made themselves comfortable. Clarke looked back at Jasper that now had everyone’s attention. The boy cleared his throat one time before he finally started talking.

‘‘So,’’ he stopped and looked around. Clarke wasn’t sure why he paused at this point, but as soon as he got closer to Monty and sat down right next to him, she understood. He swept his eyes over each one of them then kept his gaze fixed on her. Saying she couldn’t think of why exactly he chose to look at her in that moment would be a lie. Clarke knew why; this whole conversation would be about her and her betrayal to her friends, _again_. But, she couldn’t blame them, and she definitely wouldn’t either.

‘‘We have some differences going on in our part of the group.’’ Jasper continued. Clarke wanted him to keep going, because that was… interesting. _Differences_? Why would there be anything that they didn’t agree on? And what did that have to do with them? Why including them now after separating themselves from them when they could’ve just talked about things? Luckily, she wasn’t the only one who was irritated, but also curious about what Jasper really meant by differences.

‘‘And those differences are?’’ Bellamy questioned, raising one brow at the younger one.

Jasper smiled, not bright enough to describe it as a happy smile and definitely not bright enough for everyone to see it, but Clarke did. It was a light and soft smile and for a second, she had hope again. But, since she didn’t want to be disappointed again, she pushed that feeling back and tried to focus on the reality.

‘‘Some of us are ready to forgive Clarke and try again. Meanwhile, the other part still hesitates, even though it’s clear that they miss you. You _and_ Clarke.’’ Jasper assured.

Clarke blinked a few times, taking in what Jasper just told them. She thought she was dreaming. There was no way in hell that they were having issues now themselves in between their group because of her. That wasn’t supposed to happen and Clarke never wanted to be the reason for a separation again. But, she couldn’t do anything against it, couldn’t stop it because it was their choice. She didn’t have a word to say in this, but the fact that some of her… friends actually decided to forgive her again, made her feel accepted. Not fully, of course not, but definitely more than before.

‘‘Shocking, I know.’’ Jasper added, making her let out a watery smile. Only then she noticed that she was crying again. As if she didn’t do that enough already.

She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks but couldn’t stop smiling either. Sure, not everyone was ready to give her a second chance, but it was a step closer to reuniting with her friends. It was the progress they needed to be _La Familia_ again and that’s everything Clarke wanted. No joke. They could lose all the money and she was willing to not find out who her perfect match actually was as long as she would keep her friends. Forever.

As much as Clarke tried to keep her emotions locked in and tried to stop sobbing, it didn’t work. The more she thought about the past few days, the harder she kept crying. She didn’t want to see or hear what was happening around her and thankfully, she didn’t. Yet, it didn’t go unnoticed because someone pulled her into their side and she knew she didn’t have to figure out who it was. She had been sleeping in his arms now often enough to know that it was Bellamy, and even if she didn’t want him to comfort her, she didn’t feel like snapping at him either. She was a mess right now and as long as she would keep crying, she wouldn’t care about anything.

Well, shutting her thoughts down didn’t work out at all, and therefore she stopped sobbing abruptly and sat up correctly, wiping her tears away with her hands, again. It was kind of awkward feeling some people’s gaze on her, but on the other hand, it was nice knowing that they really cared for her.

As soon as she calmed down, Bellamy stopped caressing her back and took away his hand.

‘‘Better?’’ Clarke turned her head to Murphy, who was smirking slightly at her and she couldn’t help it but hit his shoulder with her fist. ‘‘Better.’’

She smiled herself, although it was just for a brief moment. What crossed her mind some seconds ago just came back and she knew she should be excited about it, but the fact that it wouldn’t be the same without all of her friends around, could make her cry again. Yet, she knew that she should try to make the best out of it, so she had to tell it her friends. And that’s what she did.

‘‘I have a birthday.’’

‘‘Excuse- what!?’’ Harper’s eyes widened.

‘‘And you tell us just now? Clarke, what the-’’ Clarke didn’t let Jasper finish his sentence. She just shook her head and cut him off.

‘‘Not today. But I have a birthday on Friday. I’ll be nineteen.’’ she explained.

Silence.

Clarke didn’t know why nobody commented on that and if she was being honest, she was really confused. Irritated. Were they mad at her for not telling them before? Well, it wasn’t like there was a lot of time to actually talk about her birthday with them, especially since she didn’t spend time with them for a whole week. She could only hope that they would figure something out for her birthday last minute and make the most of it, even though some of her friends wouldn’t celebrate it with her.

‘‘Alright,’’ Bellamy started as he ran his hand through his hair. ‘‘I have an idea.’’

‘‘That’s what I thought. Spit it out.’’ Murphy demanded.

‘‘I don’t know if this is what you want, Clarke, but we could celebrate into your birthday? It’s not like we need much anyway other than food, alcohol, music and friends. We have all of it.’’

‘‘We could bake a cake tomorrow or even on Friday itself.’’ Maya said as she sent a light smile to her. Clarke returned it before Jasper spoke again, surprising her a little bit.

‘‘And then we eat it in the garden until our stomachs are full of it.’’

All eyes were on Clarke and she knew that they all waited for her to decide whether or not she would jump on the train. It wasn’t like they could do much anyway, since they were part of the Dating Show, but it didn’t sound bad at all. As long as she would have her favourite people around her, she would be fine.

Clarke nodded, smile plastered on her face. ‘‘Okay… I’m in.’’

Monty clapped his hands together and got up before he turned towards Jasper. Clarke didn’t know what exactly the look they shared in that moment meant, but when they both started smirking and did some kind of special hand shake between them, she knew that their friendship was saved.

‘‘Since we love you.’’ Monty said.

‘‘And since everything seems to go right this time.’’ Jasper continued. ‘‘We’ll make the best alcohol all of you ever tasted.’’

With looking around, Clarke noticed that she wasn’t the only one who was slightly confused and didn’t understand what they were talking about. Monty and Jasper looked at each other then turned back to face all of their friends.

‘‘Moonshine!’’ They said in unison.

‘‘What the hell is moonshine?’’ Murphy questioned.

Monty laughed while Jasper stood up proudly, raising his chin up a little bit.

‘‘Moonshine is the best liquid ever. The one that gives you the hardest hangover you ever had, but that doesn’t stop you from drinking it again, because it makes you feel incredible. As if you’re walking on a cloud.’’

Maya shook her head. ‘‘Then that’s definitely nothing I need to taste.’’

‘‘Oh, you’ll taste it!’’ Jasper muttered.

Clarke smiled. She loved her friends with all her heart and she couldn’t ask for anyone better around her. The fact that they came to an idea almost immediately was something she really appreciated. Usually, it took her and Monroe weeks to plan her birthday whilst in the end, they just decided to go to the cinema or sit down in a bar. Nothing really ever happened on her birthday and especially since her father died, she never really felt like she should be celebrating it when his death day was so close to it. But now it felt different. And she couldn’t wait to celebrate her nineteenth birthday with the best friends she could have.

# # # # # # # # # #

11 pm.

The moment Bellamy closed his drawer, the door to the closet opened. He turned his head to the side, looking over his shoulder, seeing Monty and Murphy entering the room. As soon as they were completely inside, Monty closed the door behind him. Bellamy took this as his sign to turn around, so he did after placing his clothes on top of the dresser, crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning against it.

‘‘Yeah?’’

He had no idea why they were here, since he told them only a few minutes ago that he would be in the closet to change for the challenge that they had to attend today. No one really knew what the challenge would be about today, but usually it was a sporty activity. He didn’t feel good enough to really give his best if it would be a harder challenge this time, but he also didn’t want to let his friends and the rest of the competitors down.

Murphy jumped on top of the drawer across from him while Monty mimicked how he was standing himself, next to Murphy. Bellamy crooked his head to the side, sweeping his eyes from one of his friend to the other as he tried to figure out what they wanted from him. There wasn’t much to talk about anyway.

Jasper told them about the divide in the other half of their group of friends, Clarke remembered that she had birthday on Friday (which he thought was kind of adorable) and they planned stuff for it. Until now, there wasn’t anything that seemed to be wrong with what they wanted to do and if the rest of their friends would put their issues to the side for one night, he was sure that Clarke would love her birthday. Other than that; Bellamy didn’t know what they wanted to talk about. With him, him alone. He knew that they didn’t close the door for no reason.

Bellamy cleared his throat, turning his friends’ attention back to him.

‘‘Right.’’ Murphy said as he placed his elbows on his thighs, leaning a bit forward. ‘‘You know that today we have a new challenge. Sure, you do.’’

Bellamy didn’t say anything, since Murphy replied to what he said himself already. But, he still couldn’t think of why both of them were here and what they were trying to tell him. Since none of them continued whatever they wanted to say, he motioned them to keep going. Murphy looked down at Monty, nodding at him. Apparently, Monty knew what that meant and turned his head back towards him.

‘‘You need to win the challenge today.’’ he uttered.

Bellamy frowned, not understanding why they wanted him to win the challenge.

‘‘And why would I do that?’’

There wasn’t anyone he had in mind to pick anyway, so why would he try to win a challenge if there were other pairs that should try to do so? Also, why did he _need_ to win the getaway challenge?

He saw Murphy and Monty exchanging a look again, whereupon Murphy sighed as he rolled his eyes. That was probably because Monty didn’t want to be the one to spill the beans. And obviously, he was right.

‘‘You gotta take Clarke on a date.’’

Wait. _What_?

Bellamy shook his head, not quite understanding why his friends wanted him to take Clarke on a date. Okay, sure, she would be nineteen on Friday and it was basically her birthday week, so, they probably thought it would be nice to try and make the best out of the rest of the week for her. Not only would she get a party with all of… well not _all of_ , but with most of her friends, but also a date before that. It made sense. He understood that and could see where they were coming from, but why him, though? There were other guys _and_ girls that could win the challenge and take her on a date with them. No need for him to do that, especially because in no way were they a perfect match and it would rob a potential couple the chance to get into the Truth Booth. All nice and good, but for the game it was just stupid.

‘‘Look,’’ he said, pushing his clothes to the other end of his dresser before he jumped on it himself, leaning his back and head against the wall. ‘‘That’s a great idea, I’ll give you that, but first of all-’’

‘‘It’s not good for the game and secondly you’re just friends, yes, we get it. But that doesn’t matter.’’ Monty muttered as he cut him off. Bellamy wanted to ask him how that didn’t matter, but he was faster and continued where he ended. ‘‘I calculated everything and even if you guys aren’t a match, we still have six chances to get one.’’

Bellamy sighed, still not convinced of trying to win today’s challenge so he could go on a date with Clarke. Even though they spent more time with each other and took care of one another when they needed someone, he still didn’t think that there was anything else in it than a friendship. Sure, he wouldn’t deny that Clarke had a great personality and, God, he didn’t want to start thinking about her looks, but, that was it. And if they should get this date, it would probably be awkward and end at the point they were at the beginning of this show. They said they wouldn’t go that route again and he wanted to keep it like this, so a date was clearly the wrong direction to take. Yet, Murphy and Monty didn’t know that they used to fuck, so that wouldn’t be an argument to make either.

It seemed as though he drifted off for a long time and apparently, Murphy and Monty took that as a sign that he was considering it.

‘‘Bellamy, look, we’re not asking for much, but come on, you’re obviously pretty close to her. You let her sleep in your bed when there was this whole Finn drama. You kept having hope for her to eventually give us attention again and as our group divided, you decided to just share your bed with her. I’m not saying you’re a match, who knows who’s whose, but she trusts you, apparently she does, so please just do it. You know the past week was horrible for her and to be honest, I don’t think she would be as excited and happy about going on a getaway date with me or Monty… even Lincoln or Jasper.’’

Bellamy sighed again, but now really found himself considering it. Murphy wasn’t wrong with what he was saying and there was no way he could deny all of it. He rolled his eyes, still slightly annoyed by this whole situation, but couldn’t help it and smirked. They really knew how to get him.

‘‘Fine, I’ll try my best to win the challenge.’’

Murphy jumped off the dresser and walked to him, slapping his thigh one time.

‘‘Great, don’t fuck it up.’’

He snorted as Monty opened the door and made his way out of the room.

‘‘I won’t.’’ he assured.

Murphy waved him off before he followed Monty out of the closet and closed the door behind him.

Bellamy hit the back of his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He wouldn’t fuck it up. He would try his best to make Clarke feel good and comfortable around him and wanted her to have a great day after everything that happened. Whatever the getaway was today, he would try his best to win it, for her. _He wouldn’t fuck it up_.  

# # # # # # # # # # 

12 pm.

It was somewhat surprising to see Aryana standing in front of the wall in the living area where she usually stood when it was Truth Booth time. And if that wasn’t confusing enough, Bellamy and the others found coloured podiums standing on the spots where the couch was usually. They had no clue when they changed that layout and why they did so, but apparently, the challenge would take place in the mansion, not outside. And they were right.

‘‘Okay, guys, it’s time for your next getaway challenge!’’ The host opened. ‘‘What’s up, you alright?’’

‘‘Every time I see you again, I get excited.’’ Jasper confessed as he stopped right in front of a green podium, two spots away from where Bellamy stood, blue podium in front of him. Murphy took the red one that was placed between him and Jasper while Miller occupied the orange stand on his right. He wasn’t quite sure why Miller decided to take the one next to him, but then again, Jasper said that their group split in half again. It would only make sense if he was one of those who were ready to forgive Clarke for her mistakes, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure either.

‘‘That’s sweet, Jasper. You could see me more often if you get a pair into the Truth Booth, which is exactly why you are here today.’’ Aryana said matter-of-factly. ‘‘This one is for the guys!’’

Finn clapped his hands together, ready for the challenge to start, but Bellamy could only snort. As far as he knew, only a few people were still interacting with him, since almost everyone had been around when Clarke spilled the tea. Everyone knew that he pretty much cheated on Raven and that wasn’t anything that any of the girls were looking for in a person. But, there were still some people who were too kind for this world and continued being nice to him, giving him attention and having conversations with him. Bellamy, himself, didn’t pay much mind to Finn, but, he didn’t like the fact that he cheated on Raven, so he just ignored him most of the time.

‘‘Today's challenge is called ‘Family Matters’ and yes, that means you are finally going to meet your matches family! Are you guys ready to do that? Lexa?’’

Bellamy turned his head to the side, looking at the girl who was standing next to Wells at the window side of the living room. He never really cared much about her and probably wouldn’t in the future, but now, he was curious to find out what she would say.

‘‘Yes, Aryana, I’m ready to do that.’’ Simple answer.

The host let out a chuckle before she clapped in her hands, rubbing them together for a second, then pointed to the screen next to her.

‘‘Great, now further to how the game is going to work; As you can see, there are buzzers on top of the podiums in front of you. You’ll need them, obviously, and I’m going to tell you why.’’ she said as she swept her eyes over all of them, making sure they were listening, then kept going.

‘‘People of the girl’s and Jackson’s family sent us some short videos where they told us something personal and perhaps also secretive about your fellows. It will stop at some point and we’ll insert a question that fits to what is said in those vids, with three different answers. Only one of them is right and you need to guess which one it is. Whoever presses the buzzer first is going to be the one who has to guess which is the right answer. We’ll know who pressed first when the podium lights up in the front. If the person was able to figure out which answer is the right one, they stay in the game, _but_ have to eliminate another person until three people are left. Those will be the one who can then pick someone they want to go on a date with. Any questions?’’

Bellamy and everyone else around him stayed quiet for a while, taking in everything that Aryana just said. It was a lot, but he was sure that he understood everything and was ready to play the game and win this challenge. It didn’t seem to be a hard one anyway, so it should work. Yet, Bellamy had to admit that he could easily be eliminated, because he didn’t really speak to a lot of the girls other than the ones he was close with and Monty and Murphy were the only ones who knew about the plan of trying to get a date with Clarke, so, everyone else could take him out. And it wasn’t like he knew much about Clarke’s mother either. God, hopefully everything would work out for him.

‘‘No questions.’’ Zeke yelled. ‘‘Let’s start the game. We’re ready.’’

‘‘Alright. Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s the first video!’’

**_ Video 1 _ ** _– Shaya Icke_

_‘‘Hey, my name is Shaya and I’m Echo’s sister…’’_

‘‘Okay, first video belongs to Echo’s younger sister. Now, here is the question. Which words did she use to describe her? A; loyal, soft hearted, and funny, B; loyal, cold, and hostile, or C; loyal, romantic, and emotionally attached.’’

Murphy, Roan, Miller and Lexa hit their buzzer.

‘‘Roan, you were the first one to hit the buzzer. Which answer do you think is the correct one that describes Echo the most?’’ Aryana prodded.

‘‘B; loyal, cold, and hostile.’’ he replied.

_‘‘I would describe her as loyal, cold and hostile. She would never say that about herself, but it is what it is. Hopefully, she’ll show more emotions while being on the show.’’_

‘‘Well, you guessed right, Roan. Now, who do you eliminate?’’ The host questioned.

Bellamy turned his head to the side, facing Roan who was sweeping his eyes over everyone that was standing behind their podiums. He had no clue who he would pick, but he didn’t really care about that either. He just hoped that he wouldn’t eliminate him out of the game. That’s all he wished for.

‘‘I’m sorry, but I have to choose Finn.’’ Roan said, smirk crossing on his face.

Finn groaned and rolled his eyes but didn’t make a big deal out of it either and just took some steps back, leaning against the wall. Bellamy couldn’t say that he felt bad for him, not after everything he’d done. That’s what people got for behaving like assholes.

‘‘Well, then here comes the second video. Say hey to Maya’s dad.’’

**_ Video 2 _ ** _– Vincent Vie_

_‘‘When I heard that my little girl applied to a Dating Show, I was shocked. I didn’t expect her to participate in something like that, but I guess I should’ve seen that coming.’’_

‘‘Alright, the question: When was Maya’s last relationship?’’ Aryana asked.

_Great_. Maya could’ve mentioned that before, but thinking back, Bellamy didn’t remember her telling him something about her last relationship. Dammit, he had to shut up this time, because the risk of getting taken out was way too high.

‘‘A; at the age of sixteen, B; at the age of eighteen or C; at the age of twelve.’’

Jasper, Zeke and Monty pressed the buzzer and since Zeke was the fastest, his podium lit up in the front and Aryana turned her attention to him.

‘‘Maya’s last relationship was at the age of twelve.’’ he said confidently, nodding to himself at the same time.

The host tilted her head to the side, but smiled, before she pointed to the TV again. ‘‘Let’s see if you’re right.’’

_‘‘She always went to her mum before she died, telling her that she wanted a real boyfriend. Her mother told her that she would eventually find one and that the last relationship she had at the age of twelve couldn’t represent how a relationship actually works.’’_

Zeke clapped one time before he held his hands above his head, showing how proud he was of himself. Lincoln, who stood next to him, patted his shoulder, congratulating him on being able to get the right answer. Aryana herself clapped a few times, then decided to get back to business.

‘‘As much as I like seeing you guys being happy about all of this, Zeke, you have to ruin the party. Who do you eliminate?’’

Again, Bellamy hoped that Zeke wouldn’t do this to him. Sure, he didn’t know about the plan either, but, if God decided to punish him twice already, he for sure should let him win this fucking challenge.

‘‘I mean, we have to choose wisely this time. This is our fourth week and I don’t think we should keep sending pairs that probably aren’t a match on a date, so… sorry, but I’ve gotta say Roan.’’

‘‘Fuck you, Zeke.’’ Roan replied, leaving the spot behind his podium to go and sit on top of the kitchen island. Bellamy knew that Zeke made the right call, because until now, Roan didn’t really have a conversation with any of the girls.

‘‘Alright, let’s jump right into the third video message!’’ Aryana exclaimed.

**_ Video 3 _ ** _– Bellamy Blake_

_‘‘God, this is awkward.’’_

‘‘Dammit, Ary, couldn’t you pick anyone else’s vid, since I’m here myself?’’ Bellamy said, rolling his eyes, but at the same time he couldn’t hide the little smirk that was making its way onto his face.

Aryana just shrugged her shoulders and held up her hands in surrender. ‘‘Sorry, Bellamy, but you _are_ the only family member. We thought it would be hilarious.’’  

‘‘I’m dying of laughter.’’ he answered sarcastically.

‘‘Hello!?’’ Murphy threw in, ‘‘Let the man on the screen speak his words!’’

Bellamy used his palm to hit the back of his friend’s head, whereupon he muttered something under his breath. It didn’t matter to him and apparently, Aryana didn’t seem to care much about whatever Murphy had said quietly to himself either.

‘‘Question for everyone but Bellamy: What do you think Bellamy says is Octavia’s biggest fear? A; she doesn’t have any fears, B; she’s afraid of snakes or C; she’s afraid of thunderstorms.’’

Jasper, Lincoln, Monty and Zeke pressed the buzzer, but only one podium shone up at the front. As much as Bellamy wanted it to be Lincoln, (even though he was still kind of… not against whatever Octavia tried to have with him, but it wasn’t quite exciting knowing that he was two years older than himself while his little sister was eighteen) today’s fate wasn’t with him.

‘‘Alright, Jasper,’’ the host started, motioning him to answer the question. ‘‘Which one of the three answers do you pick?’’

Bellamy wanted to turn to Jasper to be able to look at him, but Aryana caught him and shook her head. _Great_. He wasn’t sure if Jasper was going to get the correct answer, probably not, and it would show Octavia that he really wasn’t her match. Meaning, she would try to get into the Truth Booth with Lincoln. On the other hand, Jasper getting eliminated was good for him. _Jesus,_ this game sucked.

‘‘I’ll pick B; Octavia is afraid of snakes!’’ He said confidently.

‘‘Lord…’’ Bellamy muttered to himself as he shook his head and placed his hands on the edge of the podium, waiting for himself to show up on the screen.

_‘‘Anyway, what you need to know about my sister? Well, if you want to date her, you don’t need to worry about taking her to adventure parks or going for a walk in the woods in the middle of the night. She’s not afraid of anything.’’_

‘‘Bellamy! Why didn’t you tell me!?’’ Jasper yelled, turning towards him.

‘‘I tried, Ary caught me.’’ he responded, but now he didn’t think it was bad that Jasper kicked himself out of the game. More chances for him to win a date for Clarke and him.

Aryana just laughed as she clapped her hands together, throwing her head back. Of course, she had fun doing all of this. She always had when they had to attend the challenges, so it wasn’t surprising that she had been all smiley and laughing at almost everything each one of them said. Bellamy could only imagine how funny being the host had to be, especially since she could see them fuck up all their pairs, too. But, probably it was also frustrating, because she wasn’t able to help them either. As much as he wanted to keep thinking about other things than this challenge, the next family member of someone showed up on the screen.

**_ Video 4 _ ** _– Max Walgrove_

_‘‘Hey, I’m Sasha’s father and for the start; thanks for having her on this show, she really needed to get her ass out of the house.’’_

The video stopped again before Aryana turned her head back to the participants.

‘‘Fourth question for today; Does Sasha’s father think she’s a virgin? A; no, B; yes or C; he has no idea but hopes that she is.’’

Lexa, Wells and Zeke hit the buzzer, ready to answer the question, but Wells was the fastest this time.

‘‘B; yes.’’ was all he answered and when the video played, Bellamy was actually surprised.

_‘‘She never was that type of person who went outside anyway, especially since she’s shy. Sasha only went to school and things that were related to it, so obviously, she never met a guy. I know that she’s a virgin and somehow I hope that it’ll change soon.’’_

‘‘I told you that B was the correct answer!’’ Wells said, proud of himself, just as Zeke had been before. So far, Bellamy didn’t see him interact with Sasha yet, since she always used to spend her time with him and his friends. But, Wells didn’t seem to be a bad guy either and Sasha _really_ had to get out of the house, too. So, if there would be the possibility to talk to Wells before he would pick a date, well… if he wouldn’t get kicked out, he would reach out to him and tell him to choose Sasha as his date. No excuses.

‘‘Okay, Wells, since you guessed right, who do you eliminate out of the game?’’ Aryana asked.

‘‘I’m going to pick Lexa.’’

‘‘Well, thank you.’’ Lexa said as she rolled her eyes and took the spot next to Finn against the wall.

They next clip that was played was one of Costia’s friends. The host asked what her biggest dream was, giving the options A; getting a girlfriend, B; being able to help other people come out or C; just gaining a lot of money. None of the guys were close to her and Lexa was already out of the game, so at first none of them wanted to hit the buzzer, but then Monty just did it. Bellamy believed that he decided to do so because he was kind and he thought that it was amazing, but when he did answer the question with A and it turned out that B was the right answer, he felt bad, since he risked his own chances to get a date. Monty didn’t seem to mind that much and shrugged it off.

After that, the sixth video showed up on the screen, showing Emori’s mother. Roan couldn’t shut his mouth the moment she was shown on TV and shouted that she looked hot for her age. Bellamy only shook his head before he tried focusing on the game again. He knew he didn’t say anything yet and if he was being honest, it was the best strategy he ever had. But, there was still the possibility of getting kicked out of the game, especially since Monty was out of it himself now. He only had Murphy to help him, but his friend was too brave and hit the buzzer, being the first to do so.

‘‘Emori definitely has a tattoo down there. So, I pick C.’’ he said.

Aryana shook her head in disbelief while the rest of the video got played and it revealed that Emori didn’t have a tattoo above her pussy. Bellamy wanted to laugh, knowing that they already had sex so often, yet his friend didn’t know that there wasn’t a tattoo down there. He really didn’t want to think of this in a visual way, but did Murphy even go down on her? Probably not.

Since the answer was wrong, Murphy was out, too, and Bellamy was left with Zeke, Lincoln, Wells and Miller. Aryana didn’t want to waste time, so the next video was played. It was one of Harper’s mother, but the video got cut almost immediately after she introduced herself.

‘‘So, what was Harper’s hair colour before she turned blonde? A; she’s always been blonde, B; she was a ginger or C; she had brown hair.’’

Bellamy had an inner conflict with himself, because he wanted to hit the fucking buzzer, but he couldn’t risk getting kicked out of the game either, so he stayed mute. Instead of him, Zeke was the one who had to answer the question, for him, the second time today.

‘‘I’m going with A; she’s always been blonde.’’

To Bellamy’s luck, the answer was wrong. Harper was a brunette before and changed her hair colour just recently. In that moment, Bellamy regretted not hitting the buzzer, because he knew that Harper had brown hair before. He had no idea why, but he had that feeling the moment Aryana told them about option C. He could’ve saved his own ass, but he didn’t. And now he had to fight for the last chance to get a date against Lincoln, Wells and Miller. The latter probably wanted to finally get his date with Jackson, so for sure he had to give it his all now. And as if things couldn’t get worse for him, Clarke’s mother showed up on the screen.

**_ Video 8 _ ** _– Abigail Griffin_

_‘‘I’m Abby Griffin and I’m Clarke’s mum. I’m glad she’s finally out there, looking for someone to date. It’s not like she did that in the past few years and if I’m being honest I’m sick of her-’’_

Finishing a sentence? Well, that could end up fantastic.

‘‘Alright, last chances to get a date, guys. Lincoln, Wells, Miller and Bellamy, are you ready to do this?’’ Aryana prodded.

Bellamy could hear Miller let out a breath next to him as he placed his hand closer to the buzzer. God, he was actually nervous about this and he never had been playing the other challenges. Guess, he really wanted to win this for Clarke.

‘‘Just tell us the options, Aryana.’’ he said, running his hand through his hair before he held his hand up right above the buzzer. Whatever the answers would be, he would hit the fucking buzzer. He knew that they didn’t have to shoot out the question, so he definitely could use a few seconds to actually think about what to pick. _Jesus, just please._

‘‘As you wish, Blake. The options are: A; casually hooking up with people, B; crying in her bed all day long for not having a relationship or C; staying in and probably, even if it’s not possible, becoming a virgin again.’’

_Slammed._

Bellamy didn’t know if it worked, wasn’t sure if his podium was the one that lit up and what was happening around him anyway, since he had his eyes shut. He didn’t even notice how badly he wanted to win this challenge and if he was being honest, he didn’t know why he just hit the buzzer, why he thought that this had been a good idea. Staying mute worked until now and he probably wasn’t the one who had to answer the question.

He sighed and decided to face the reality again as he opened his eyes again, looking at the other competitors podium. But, the moment he saw Murphy smirking at him, he knew that his podium was the one that light up. He turned his head to Aryana, who had raised one of her eyebrows and who was definitely waiting for him to spit out the answer. If he only knew…

‘‘Okay,’’ he said, trying to slow things down as he looked at the screen, taking in the options again. _Casually hooking up._ That one was out. Clarke wouldn’t tell her mother that she does such things, but did she want a relationship? Crying wasn’t something he actually thought she would do often, but in the last few days she definitely did cry a lot. Yet, the last answer would make more sense for a mother to say, especially after what she’d told him about her mother wanting her to study medicine instead of art… _Fuck it_.

‘‘I’ll go with C. Staying in and probably becoming a virgin again.’’

‘‘Let’s see if you’re right then.’’ _That would be for the better_. 

_'‘It’s not like she did that in the past few years and if I’m being honest I’m sick of her staying in and probably, even if it’s not possible, becoming a virgin again.’’_

‘‘Hell yes!’’ Murphy screamed as he grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, almost jumping on his back. Monty seemed to be as excited about him guessing the right answer since he got in between him and Miller and took his hand without any warning, hive-fiving himself with it.

It felt like his two friends were more excited about this whole situation than he was, but that was because he couldn’t believe he just answered the question with the right answer. He fucking did it. He won the challenge and was now able to get Clarke her birthday date that would be a surprise for her, too, because she had no clue. _Jesus_. This was a big thing and he knew that she would thank him to death for doing this for her when she would ask him. He couldn’t imagine that genuine smile that would cross her face after not showing up for a week now. There was no way he could hide his own excitement for this anymore. He would try to make the best out of the date for her… that’s what she deserved.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Clarke was sitting in between Harper and Maya, still not over the fact that Bellamy had been able to guess the right answer. It wasn’t like she thought that he was a bad friend or anything, but she never told him about what her mother thought she was doing in her life. And if she had to be honest, she thought he would pick option A, because casually hooking up was something that they had been doing. Apparently, she didn’t know him as well as he did know her.

‘‘Alright, Bellamy, after all of your friends excitement for you, who do you kick out of the game and therefore save one of your other participants to win a date with?’’ Aryana said, who was shown on the TV across from the bar the rest of the group was gathered around.

Harper got a bit closer, keeping the conversation between the two of them.

‘‘Who do you think he’s going to eliminate?’’

Clarke shrugged her shoulders as she kept staring at the screen.

Bellamy was currently looking between Wells and Miller and she had no idea who he was going to pick. She tried hard to distract herself and look anywhere but at him, but of course, they had to zoom the camera on him, the moment he decided to rake his fingers through his hair again. She hated this.

‘‘I really don’t want to do this, because even if we’re not on the same page right now, I still consider you one of my closest friends, but I can’t take out Lincoln, for Octavia’s sake and Sasha needs to get her ass out of this house, so I gotta kick out Miller.’’

‘‘Could’ve guessed that.’’ Harper muttered next to her, and Clarke had to let out a snicker.

She didn’t think so. It was actually surprising to her that Bellamy decided to give Lincoln a chance and that he wanted Wells to pick Sasha even though they never saw them interacting once. But, it had been his decision and for sure they would respect that. Seeing Miller pat his shoulder and smiling a bit at Bellamy showed her that he did understand and that Jasper hadn’t been lying when he said the group currently split into two. Yet, there wasn’t much time for her to keep thinking, because people around her started getting up. So, she did the same.

‘‘What’s happening?’’ she asked Maya. The black-haired only smiled at her as they walked back to the rest of the group.

‘‘Aryana said we should come back, so the guys can tell us who they picked for their dates.’’

_Oh,_ Clarke thought as she positioned herself next to Emori and Harper. It wasn’t her intention to stand to the first one, but it kinda just happened. Everyone was standing on the window side except for Wells, Lincoln and Bellamy. Aryana was now positioned in front of the TV, half turned towards the winners of the group, half towards her and the rest of the participants.

By looking around her, she tried to figure out who Bellamy would pick for his date. He already went on one with Maya and as far as she could tell, he didn’t think that they were a match either. She believed that Raven would be a choice, but she had been on Octavia’s side for the past few days, so it didn’t work out. Using her head, it only made sense for him to pick someone of their group and there was only Harper left. She knew that her friend didn’t have a date yet and she didn’t talk to other people either, so it would make sense for Bellamy to pick her, which would be adorable. She smiled to herself.

‘‘Lincoln, I’m asking you first. Who are you going to pick for your date?’’

Lincoln turned to Octavia, motioning her to walk over to him. Clarke could see her roll her eyes, but there was definitely a smile on her face. She could try as much as she wanted, but deep inside herself, Octavia probably knew that all of this couldn’t work for too long.

‘‘Well, that was as easy as… I don’t really have something to compare right now.’’ Aryana said as she shook her head. ‘‘Anyway, Wells, it’s your turn to choose.’’

‘‘Uhm, I actually had no idea who I would’ve picked if I was going to win.’’ he admitted. God, as much as Clarke wanted to shake her head, in some way, it was still adorable. ‘‘But, I guess I’ll be a good… friend to Bellamy and take out Sasha.’’

‘‘Thanks.’’ Bellamy replied whereupon Wells smiled at him.

Sasha smiled then made her way towards Wells and stopped in front of him, just as Octavia did two minutes ago. Clarke was happy. All of her friends would be going on a date today and although she wanted to finally go on one herself, she could push that feeling back and keep being excited for her friends… if she still counted Octavia as one of hers.

‘‘Okay, we’re almost done, but Bellamy still has to choose before I tell you guys what your getaway date is going to be. So, who is your date for today, Bellamy?’’ Aryana asked.

Clarke turned her head towards him as she waited for him to answer the question. She saw him sweep his eyes over to Murphy and Monty who nodded at him, excited expression on their faces. It made her smile that not only was she feeling this emotion for her friends, but also other people of their group. Yet, she still wanted to know who Bellamy was going to pick, so she turned her attention back to him, only to find him already looking at her.

Bellamy raised one of his eyebrows for a brief moment while smirked slightly. She sent him a quizzed look, but he just turned his face back to Aryana. Clarke was a bit irritated, but she shook it off with shaking her head.

‘‘There’s somehow who is about to be a year older this week.’’

_Shut up_ , Clarke thought as she widened her eyes at him. Was he really about to go that way or was he playing with her and her emotions? He was just playing, right? By the look he gave her some seconds, he couldn’t be serious. No, definitely not.

Clarke crossed her arms in front of her chest while blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

‘‘And if she’d told me before, I would’ve gone to a store to get her a present, but she kinda forgot herself that she has a birthday, so, obviously she didn’t tell me.’’ Bellamy continued.

The blonde let her arms fall next to her side, realizing that this boy was actually being serious. Oh God, she hated him. She really did. Well, not for the date thing, but for exposing her like this to the whole world. He couldn’t be serious. How was she even able to stop him from talking? Shouting at him, telling him to keep his mouth shut wouldn’t work and, _no_.

‘‘That’s why I decided to take the princess on her well-deserved date.’’

Yeah, she _could_ tell him to stop talking.

‘‘Shut up, Bellamy,’’ she said as she made her way towards him, not waiting for anyone to comment on his stupid speech. He just smirked at her and pulled her closer to him as soon as she stopped right next to him. ‘‘I really do hate you.’’ she muttered, whereupon he snorted.

‘‘Sure you do.’’

‘‘Alright, since we got all the pairs now, I’ll tell you about your getaway date, short and simple. You’ll have time from 2 until 6 pm to spend together at the Santa Monica Pier. Do whatever you like to do, you are free to decide on that. Go and relax on the beach, walk around the streets, or get a bike. Your decision to make! I hope you enjoy your time and for those who stay at the house, as always; choose wisely!’’ Those were Aryana’s last words before she left them alone again.

Clarke still couldn’t believe that Bellamy actually picked her to go with him on a date and if things couldn’t get any better, they were going to the Santa Monica Pier. She really hoped that the day would end up good and without any drama. That’s all she wished for and knowing Bellamy, he would make the best out of the date for not him, but for her. She smiled at the thought of it, excited of what was going to happen in a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhm. cliffhanger, i know. i know. but still, you guys excited for their date? what do you think is going to happen? comment!!
> 
> also... i have a little surprise for you but of course i won't say what. eyes sharp!   
> much love xo


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE CHAPTER!
> 
> i said i would post twice a week and it'll stay like this BUT you guys were sending so much love my way the last few chapters, so of course i'll give you something back. and i mean, come on, i know you guys were waiting for the date :)  
> so... enjoy!

1.15 pm.

Clarke looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had just come out of the shower, wet hair and a towel wrapped around her body. There was something about her appearance that annoyed her and made her seem boring. She never thought that she was ugly or anything, but then again, she had in mind that she looked basic: blonde, long hair, wavy. She didn’t want to complain about her outer appearance, she did that often enough in the past, hating her body and being ashamed of wearing short clothes. But, at one point, her opinion of herself changed and she started loving herself: her legs, her curves, her stomach… She didn’t feel uncomfortable in her own skin anymore, but still there was something she wanted to change and the only thing that would make her look different would be chopping off her hair.

She turned her head to the side, just a bit and brought her hair to the front of her face. Right now, it reached her breast and sure, some people always dreamt of having long hair, especially if it was as healthy as hers, but she had had enough of it. The only thing that crossed her mind was how short she wanted to go. Shoulder length? Cutting it above her shoulder? A long bob? Did she want bangs? There were so many different hairstyles she could, and was willing, to try out, but she was also scared. She had gotten used to her hair, looking the way it did, yet, she was bored. She would definitely change it as soon as she made a decision.

Clarke sighed and reached for the hair dryer just as the door to the bathroom opened. She spun her head to the door and let her hand fall next to her side again when she realized who was standing in the doorframe. The other girl didn’t tear her eyes from her for a second, but pulled the door further open and stepped inside, closing it behind her. She didn’t know what that meant and whether she would ignore her the whole time both of them were still in this room, but she also knew that it would be awkward as hell. It already was anyway.

She sent her a light smile but didn’t get anything in return. Clarke sighed again then grabbed the hair dryer for real this time and turned it on before drying her hair. She had no idea how long it would take the other girl to forgive her for what she had done, but she also didn’t want to think much about it, because her day should keep getting better and not worse. She still couldn’t believe that Bellamy chose her to go on a date with and she probably wouldn’t until they actually would leave the house. The only thing that she was asking herself was if they would stay together in the group or if they would decide to do their own thing. She didn’t even know what they were going to do because there were a lot things that they could be doing at the pier. Clarke smiled, shaking her head lightly by the thought of it.

“So,” the blonde spun her head around to the girl that stood next to her. She wasn’t looking at her, just keeping her gaze on the mirror as she did her make-up. “You have birthday this week? When?”

Clarke was confused. It was such a normal thing to ask, but the fact that it was coming out of her mouth was irritating, especially since they hadn’t talked for a long time. She didn’t even know how to answer that one, not knowing where exactly this question would lead to. She swallowed one time before she made herself answer the question.

“On Friday.” she said, looking at her friend’s eyes through the mirror. She stopped doing her eyebrows and left the pencil on the counter before she turned around and faced her. Both of them stayed silent for a while, but Clarke couldn’t do this. As much as she wanted to keep a casual conversation with her, she couldn’t do it and had to confront her.

“What do you want, Octavia?”

The brunette leaned her hip against the counter and crossed her arms in front of her chest. This was such a Blake thing to do, yet, she knew that this position was meant to prove something to her. But, she wasn’t sure what Octavia wanted from her, so she couldn’t figure out what exactly she was trying to convey with her body language.

“I don’t want anything, Clarke. I’m just here to do my make up,” she answered casually.

Clarke couldn’t imagine her being serious about this. Well, sure, she probably didn’t know that she had been in here, but she could’ve left, too. Instead, she decided to just not care about her already being in the bathroom, even though she usually tried to avoid her as best as she could. So, this didn’t make sense at all.

“You know I don’t believe this. You haven’t talked or looked at me before and now you try to have a normal conversation with me. That doesn’t add up.” Clarke told her friend.

Octavia snorted and let her hands fall to her sides as she turned around again, facing the mirror while fumbling in her toiletry bag.

“I’m not good at saying sorry and I actually don’t think I did anything wrong.”

Clarke didn’t say anything. She knew she couldn’t change the younger one’s mind, but then again, she seemed like she wanted to give her a second chance, and that would be enough for Clarke.

Octavia turned back to her as she sighed. “Alright, look, I didn’t like the way you treated us, especially because of the way you treated Bellamy, but he did forgive you for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because of the great sex you guys have or because he really likes you…”

“Wait, what?” Clarke shook her head in confusion whereupon Octavia just laughed.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you that I know? Well, whatever that’s not my business. I just want-”

Clarke cut her off again, not able to gather in what her friend just said aloud.

“No, no, since when do you- we’re not hooking up anymore; we didn’t for a long time, though. And it’s not like we’re planning on doing this again. We’re just friends.”

Octavia looked at her, no real expression on her face before she started laughing hysterically, hand placed on her stomach as she leaned forward and used her other hand to hold herself up by grabbing the counter.

To be honest, Clarke didn’t know what was funny about what she said, but then again it was Octavia. It was clear that she would find something hilarious in what she said, but the fact that she was damn serious made her feel weird about her friend’s reaction. She kept laughing and laughing, perhaps for almost five minutes before she stood up correctly and wiped her tears away. Clarke knew she wasn’t dumb and that she should be able to figure out why she had been laughing that badly, but she couldn’t, so she hoped that the brunette would tell her what was so funny about it.

Octavia waved her off with a smile on her face. “Whatever, Clarke. I forgive you.” She turned around and closed her bag before she grabbed it and took a few steps towards the door. Her friend faced her again one last time and winked at her. “Have fun later.” With that she left with a puzzled Clarke standing in the bathroom.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Still slightly confused about the events from twenty minutes ago, Clarke made her way into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She should’ve taken her clothes with her already, but on the other hand, she knew she would probably change a million times. Her forgetting to take her underwear with her into the bathroom was another thing. Luckily, no one was in the hallway when she strolled to the room. She didn’t expect her roommates to be out of the room, so it didn’t surprise her when Sasha smiled at her as she entered the room. For sure, Murphy was the one to comment on her being half naked in front of all of them.

“You could’ve just walked in without the towel wrapped around your body, you know.”

“Shut up, Murphy.” she said as she made her way to the closet. She could hear him reply something to what she said, but she just showed him her middle finger, as she opened the door to the closet, walked inside and closed the door behind her.

Clarke took off the towel and took a few steps forward to the dresser that had her clothes in it. She didn’t know how warm it would be today, but she definitely wanted to wear something that was comfortable, yet cute. She thought of wearing some culottes and combine a nice top with it, but then again, it would fit a look for the Matching Ceremony more. God, there were some many options, hopefully she could find something nice.

“Jesus, you could’ve warned me. No need to rush things.”

Clarke spun her head around and shrieked the moment she saw Bellamy standing in front of the mirror, now turned towards her, wearing some grey jeans. She covered herself up with her towel again before she threw her sponge against him.

“What the fuck, Bellamy! You can’t just walk in here!” she yelled, kind of embarrassed by the situation.

Bellamy just laughed as he bent down and grabbed the sponge from the floor before he came closer, stopping in front of her.

“I was in here already. Guess you were just focused on other stuff than paying attention to your surroundings,” he replied, handing her the sponge back.

Clarke glared at him for a bit before she let it go and took the sponge. He had already seen her naked, so it wasn’t something new, but it could’ve been anyone, so it was still embarrassing. And she knew that he wouldn’t leave the closet until he was ready either, which meant she had to dress herself while he was in here, too. Hopefully, he would be able to keep his hands to himself.

“Right,” was all she said before placing her toiletries on top of the dresser. She wanted to pull out her drawer, but since Bellamy and herself were standing in front of it, it was impossible.

The blonde took some steps backwards and turned her face to Bellamy who just leaned against the dresser, arms crossed in front of his chest and raised one of his brows. Clarke rolled her eyes, knowing exactly why he was doing this.

“Move,” she demanded, but obviously, he didn’t.

“Why would I?” he asked cockily.

Clarke rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him, holding her hands up, ready to push him away, but he just grabbed both of her wrists, keeping her in place. She tried to break free of his grip, but nothing she tried worked. In fact, Bellamy only pulled her closer, so he could be able to stop her from moving until she stood right in front of him. Only his forearms were keeping them from having no space in between them.

As usual when they were this close, Clarke had to look up to meet his eyes, which wasn’t the best thing to do in the current situation they were in. Of course, Bellamy looked right back into her eyes, but she didn’t miss how his gaze swept to her lips for a brief second. Almost automatically, she did the same as she bit her lip and continued sweeping her eyes down him; from his lips to his neck, down to his shoulders and further down, keeping her gaze on his toned torso for a little longer before she followed the little line of hair disappearing under his jeans that was sitting low on his hips.

Clarke looked up again, meeting Bellamy’s eyes immediately. She didn’t know what answer she was hoping she would get, but she had to try and see if he actually would do as she told him.

“Let go, Bellamy,” she breathed out, unsure of what was about to come next. Sure, she didn’t want anything to happen (she really wanted to keep the friendship they had) but it wasn’t like she didn’t want to see where he would go with this either. Right now, he had the upper hand and he could also make the first move, but she knew that Bellamy was competitive, so he wouldn’t do that.

She knew she had been right when a light smirk made its way to his face. He would probably use the tone of her voice against her, and the fact that she couldn’t get out of his grip, made her hate him for this. But, then again, it was also such a fucking turn on that she half regretted taking a shower. What was she even thinking? There was no time for anything to happen anyway. She still had to do her hair and makeup, and on top of that, get dressed, but without him letting go of her wrists, she wouldn’t go anywhere.

Clarke expected Bellamy to keep playing this game so she was surprised when he actually let go. Well, only of one of her wrists, but that was enough for her to try and get out of his grip. Just as she started moving backwards, he pulled her closer by the wrist again, as close as possible, which was in fact, pressed against his chest. She had to place her hand on her towel to keep it from falling onto the floor, but she believed that Bellamy wouldn’t mind at all.

“Why?” he asked her as he put a strand of hair behind her ear. She couldn’t even grab his own wrist because of her fucking towel. Actually, she didn’t know if she hated it, or Bellamy, more right now.

“Because I need to get ready,” she explained, hoping that he would use his head and finally let go.

“Mhm.” Bellamy tilted his head to the side, probably considering it, but Clarke was sure that he wouldn’t do it after all. It seemed like he didn’t know how long it took women to get ready, or he just acted like he didn’t. He should be used to it since he had a little sister, but she had been wrong about things the whole day already, so why should there be any change now.

Clarke took a step backwards again, thinking that he was still in his thoughts, but he wasn’t. And she knew it was true the second he pulled her close to him again. She really had no idea what was happening here or what he was trying to do, but then he leant forward and brushed his lips against her ear, making her shiver. But, before he could say anything, the door opened and he let go of her hand immediately as he took a few steps back. Clarke herself pressed her hands against her towel and turned to the dresser again, acting as if she was searching for something.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you weren’t dressed yet, Clarke.”

The blonde turned her head around and looked at Zeke over her shoulder, sending him a light smile.

“It’s fine. Do you need anything?”

Zeke shook his head and swept his eyes away from her, probably looking at Bellamy, before his eyes found hers again. “No, I just wanted to tell you that it’s already 1.30 pm. Aryana will be here in half an hour, so make sure that you’re ready by then.”

Clarke nodded and mouthed him a thank you whereas Zeke smiled at her. He almost closed the door behind him as he left the closet, but then Bellamy raised his voice, making him turn around again and pull the door further open.

“It won’t take me long to finish dressing up later,” he said, walking towards the door. “I’ll let you get dressed first.”

If there wasn’t this fucking smirk plastered on his lips, she would believe him. She would believe him that he really left the closet, so she should could get dressed freely and without hiding her body from anyone. But, she knew that he just left because he thought that she would do something inappropriate if he wouldn’t. She knew that he could be an asshole sometimes and even though she would never be around someone that she considered as one, she liked being around him. She didn’t know why and definitely not why she thought it made him even more attractive. Perhaps, because he usually seemed to be caring and loving, but liked provoking and showing this side of him, too. Whatever.

Clarke motioned that it was okay if he would leave, so he did and closed the door behind him. Finally, she was alone and could breathe again. She knew that she somehow was weak for Bellamy being cocky and flirty like that, so Zeke interrupting prevented the worst thing that could’ve happened.

Anyway, it was time for her to get ready and since she didn’t have much time, she just decided to wear a denim grey dress overall with a white crop top underneath it. She didn’t know if they would be walking around a lot, but she wanted to be prepared, so she combined that outfit with some white sneakers. She had planned to leave her hair open, but there was no time for straightening it anymore, so she pulled her hair together into a messy bun and left some strands out next to her ears. Eyebrows, blush, mascara, and lipstick would be enough for today; no need to exaggerate.

Clarke looked into the mirror one last time. She was satisfied with her look, and therefore, ready to go for her date. She hoped that at the end of the day she could say that it was an amazing date without any awkward tension between her and Bellamy. But, she thought she knew him well enough by now that he would try to make her as comfortable as he could.

She smiled to herself before she turned off the light and made her way out of the closet. She was ready, but also excited for the date.

# # # # # # # # # # 

2.20 pm.

Bellamy held the door open, waiting for Clarke to pass him and enter the little shop that they found in an alley from the main street of the pier. She made her way inside with a smile on her face, exploring the inner part of the shop that was filled with not only clothes, but also with furniture and little accessories that could easily be used as decoration. He followed her inside and closed the door behind him slowly as she strolled towards the back of the shop. He shook his head and decided to let her look around for a bit. There was no need to rush things, so he started exploring the store himself.

Although he knew that he didn’t want to buy anything for himself, he looked through the clothes that were hanging on the rails that were all coloured differently. Bellamy thought it fit to the shop itself. It was kinda exotic; dark green walls with a greyish floor and some couches at the right side of the store, pushed back against the wall. He didn’t know if the owner actually wanted to get rid of them or if it was part of the layout, but it didn’t matter at this point, because it looked really nice.

He currently was on the left side whilst Clarke had gone to the back, probably looking through the décor section of the shop. In the middle, there was a large table that split the right and the left side. There were a lot of different things on it, like shoes or necklaces, caps and bracelets.

Bellamy turned around, deciding that he could look for something he could buy for his sister. He strolled over and started right from the end of the table. He wasn’t looking for anything specific, though, just something little that would remind her of the journey they had together. But remembering that she wasn’t talking to him at the moment made him decide against it. Sure, she would probably still keep it, but he didn’t want her to just take it because he bought it for her. He sighed.

Bellamy strolled further to the back, slowly keeping an eye on what was laid out on the table. As hard as he tried to not drift off and think about what happened almost an hour ago, he couldn’t.

He didn’t even know how it happened, but seeing Clarke in nothing but a towel did things to him; bad things. Apparently, he had a hard time trying to stay away from her in meaning of sexual activities, but it wasn’t his fault. She had been the one to walk into the closet without knocking nor looking around to see if someone was inside. And if that wasn’t enough, she just took off her towel as if this was such a normal thing to do… Well, it was, but not when you know you share a room with a ton of guys.

Bellamy shook his head and tried to focus on what he was seeing in front of him. This shop gave him the opportunity to buy Clarke a present for her birthday, since he had no idea if he could find something in a store that was close to the mansion they were staying at. Sure, he didn’t need to buy her anything, he already won the challenge for her, but the other thing he had in mind to give her wouldn’t be enough and didn’t satisfy himself. So, he had to buy her something else.

He turned his head over his shoulder, looking for Clarke, but she was nowhere to be seen. He scoffed to himself before he turned his attention back to the accessories in front of him. He just wanted something small, nothing big or too extra. They weren’t a couple or anything, but she was still kind of important to him. He didn’t know why, but didn’t want to think about it either.

A necklace would definitely be too much so he strolled further to the back again, closer to the till. Now, he was able to see Clarke who was still looking at the décor stuff. He didn’t know why, since she wouldn’t need anything for the next six weeks, but he wouldn’t tell her to stop.

Bellamy turned his gaze back to the table in front of him and stopped in his tracks when he saw a silver bracelet. He took a few steps closer to the table itself and took it in his hand before placing it in his palm. The bracelet had two little signs hanging on it; a sun and a moon. He blinked a few times before he looked back at the spot where the bracelet just laid some seconds ago and grabbed the little box that stood behind it.

Looking back at the bracelet, he considered buying it, but wasn’t so sure how he would explain the reason why he picked the one with the sign of a sun and a moon. Perhaps, because he was interested in constellations of stars and everything that was related to it, but Clarke wasn’t, as far as he knew, and the only other thing that could explain why he picked this one would be… too romantic. And he wasn’t romantic; not at all. Plus, there was no need to be romantic anyway; they were just friends.

Bellamy shook his head and placed the bracelet in the box. He would decide on it later if he really would buy it or not. They still had enough time to go to other stores or even come back if they wanted to. He placed the box back on the table and looked up, searching for Clarke. Said person was now fumbling through the clothes on the hanging rails where he had been before. He smiled to himself before he walked over and stopped right next to her. She noticed him immediately and sent him a light smile, turning her attention back to a shirt she was looking at after that.

“I want it,” she said, but hung it back on the rail. Bellamy frowned, not understanding why she did that, but it didn’t take him long to know. “But I think it’s not… me.”

He raised one eyebrow, even though she wasn’t looking at him. She just kept shuffling around, taking a look at other stuff to distract herself from taking what she really wanted.

Bellamy snorted and took the shirt again and to be honest, he didn’t know why she would say it didn’t fit her. The shirt was baby blue and had a little knot on the left which would probably end up on her breast. It said, 'the head and the heart', and was written in script. The colour of it was white and the whole shirt was definitely too big for her, so he guessed she wanted to wear it as a dress.

Bellamy didn’t know how long he was observing it until Clarke took it out of his hands and put it back with the other clothes.

“I don’t want it, Bellamy.”

“You didn’t even try it on,” he replied, taking it off the rack again.

Clarke sighed and turned towards him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. He just raised one eyebrow in response and wiggled the shirt a little bit.

“Let’s go to the changing rooms.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the shirt before she made her way to the back of the shop.

“Fine.”

Bellamy scoffed a little and followed her to the back while he motioned the camera team to wait at the front of the shop. He didn’t want them to film them in the back even though he didn’t plan on actually joining her inside the changing room and he bet that Clarke didn’t want that either. But he would wait for her outside so he could be able to tell if it looked good or not. If he wouldn’t do that, she definitely would put it back on the rail again and walk out of the shop without even considering taking the shirt with her for real. It was a basic shirt that she could use as a dress, thanks to her body, so why would she think that it didn’t fit her? He rolled his eyes. Women.

Clarke walked into one of the changing rooms before she pulled the curtain around to close off the area, but she didn’t pull it to the end completely. Bellamy was still able to see everything from where he was standing, but blocked the opening in the curtain with his body so nobody behind the counter, including the camera crew, could see in. Actually, it surprised him that until now, no seller came up to them. Sure, he didn’t mind a little bit of privacy, but this was Los Angeles and anything could happen.

Bellamy didn’t know if Clarke did this on purpose and wanted him to see her undressing herself before wearing that shirt she picked, but even if that was so, he still decided to look at the décor she was looking at seconds after they walked into the shop. Sometimes, it felt like she was trying to seduce him with whatever she was wearing: skirts, leggings, tops that showed her cleavage… And if Bellamy was truthful with himself, he didn’t behave any better. He always joked or made sassy comments that could probably count as flirting, even though he was sure that wasn’t what he was doing.

Hearing someone clear their throat behind him made him turn around and to be honest, he didn’t know who he expected other than Clarke. And she looked great. Fantastic even. The shirt ended just above her knees, but it fit perfectly, not too oversized, but still could be worn as a dress. Bellamy smirked lightly and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“You look good,” he said, taking a few steps closer to her.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say? That I look good?” he knew she was provoking him and usually he would just ignore it (well that wasn’t true, but anyway). Somehow, he couldn’t do it now and just kept getting closer, making her walk backwards into the changing room again.

“No, Clarke, you look amazing in it. It fits you, great combination with your blonde hair and you look fucking hot,” he stopped walking when he was inside of the room too, her back pressed against the mirror. “Is that what you wanted to hear?” he asked her.

Clarke didn’t say or do anything for a while and Bellamy thought he went too far. Sure, he did. Whatever would have happened if Zeke didn’t interrupt them back in the house was still flying between them and they haven’t talked about it, yet. So, there was still the possibility of her being completely against all of this. But when she bit her lower lip and wrapped his shirt around her hand one time, he knew that she in fact wanted this. Or she just played with him. Whatever it was he hated her for being the reason why he was so weak.

“Perhaps,” she started. It didn’t go unmissed with how her eyes swept down to his lips, if only for a second, before she looked him back in the eyes. “Maybe I didn’t want to hear you say anything.”

Alright, now Bellamy was sure; they were definitely flirting. He knew that this whole date was going into the wrong direction and that was the exact same reason why he didn’t want to go on a date with Clarke in the first place. Sure, he could and probably would’ve banged her if they were still in the first week, but now things were different and both of them knew that this wasn’t a good idea. But he also knew that nobody had to find out about it, so he just pushed the thought of being rational out of his mind.

“Aha,” was all he said before leaning down, ready to kiss her, but before he could do so someone cleared their throats behind them.

Clarke let go of his shirt and Bellamy took a few steps backwards, turning around when he was far enough from her. Now, _there_ was the owner of the shop. It was an older woman who looked kind of annoyed, but still somehow amused.

“Do you want to buy anything?” she asked casually.

“Yeah, actually the shirt she’s wearing right now.” Bellamy responded.

Clarke stepped next to him and sent the woman a light smile which she returned. “There’s just no price on it, so I don’t know how much it costs.”

The woman swept her eyes from Clarke to Bellamy then back to the shirt and to Bellamy again. He had no idea what she was doing or what was running through her mind right now, but she then smiled again and nodded as she waved him towards her.

“Your girlfriend can change, meanwhile, we can talk about the price.” Bellamy parted his lips for a second, ready to make clear that Clarke wasn’t his girlfriend, but she was faster.

“Go, it’s fine, I don’t need help getting out of it.”

He turned to look at her, a quizzed expression on his face, but she just raised her brow and motioned him to go with her eyes only. He sighed and walked out of the changing room before he pulled the curtain, this time, completely closed. He then made his way to the counter and stopped in front of it.

“Anything else you want to buy?” the woman asked him.

Bellamy shook his head. “No, that’s everything.” The older woman nodded before she took a paper and a pen, writing something down on it, probably the price of the shirt. It shouldn’t cost that much, it was just a basic shirt, nothing special.

He turned his face around, sweeping his eyes through the shop, looking at the camera team for a minute. From the back of it, the store looked even nicer than he thought and if-

Bellamy spun his head around to the woman behind the counter. “Actually, there is.” He didn’t wait for a response, just walked over to the table in the middle of the shop and grabbed the box with the bracelet before he walked back to the till. He placed both things on top of it and looked to the changing room for a brief second. Luckily, Clarke was still inside, so she wasn’t able to see him not only paying for her shirt, but also for the bracelet. He wouldn’t give it to her before her actual birthday. He didn’t know if it was possible for him to wait so long until he could see her face when opening it, but he would try.

Surprisingly, this time Clarke took a little longer to change back into her clothes. Bellamy was already leaning against the wall next to the door as the woman pointed to him, showing Clarke where he was. He could see how she sent the owner a light smile before she walked towards him.

“Do you have a bag?” she asked him, holding up the blue shirt.

“Sure thing.” Bellamy took it out of her hand and put it in the bag where he had placed the box with the bracelet, too. He had to remind himself to take it out as soon as they got back to the mansion so she wouldn’t see it before her birthday.

He pulled the door open for her next, as both of them said their goodbyes to the owner of the shop.

“Okay, what do we do next?” Clarke asked as they started walking back to the main street, camera team following them.

Bellamy didn’t know what they could do next, but only because there were so many options: visit the beach, take a ride with bikes, just casually stroll down the streets, sit down in a restaurant, and the fact that they still had two free hours didn’t make things easier. He sighed.

“I don’t know, are-”

“Forget it!” Clarke grabbed his hand and started walking a bit faster as she pulled him with her to the other side of the street. He had no idea what she saw and was now so excited about, but he didn’t really care either. He just followed her blindly, trusting her with his life.

As soon as they reached the other side, he thought she would let go of his hand, but she didn’t. She even locked their hands with each other and continued walking, as if it was no big deal. Well, it would be no big deal if there was an actual reason for holding hands, but there wasn’t. Did the girlfriend comment trigger something inside her or did she do this to play with his mind? He had no clue, but there was no time to ask her either since they stopped in front of a food truck. Actually, it was a churros truck.

“Have you tried churros before?”

Bellamy turned sideways, facing Clarke who was looking at the menu instead of him. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t help it and smiled because she was so fucking adorable. He knew that he wanted to tell her this already, but every time the thought crossed his mind again, something got in the way and he couldn’t tell her. Surprisingly though, he had the chance to say it to her now but instead he didn’t and just turned around again to look at the menu himself.

“For sure, I did.” He stopped himself mid-sentence to look at her for a second time. “What do you want?” he asked her.

Clarke looked at him for a brief moment then focused on the menu again. “I guess churros with chocolate, but I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure about a lot of things today,” he uttered whereas she turned her face to look at him again. She raised one eyebrow at him before she turned her face back to the front and pulled him with her, taking some steps closer to the truck.

“I think I’m pretty sure about two or three things,” she said as she smiled at the seller.

Bellamy couldn’t answer that one, since she ordered her stuff and, therefore, wasn’t listening to him anymore. It bothered him that he had no idea what she was talking about and that she could switch from one behaviour to another quite easily. Okay, it wasn’t like he wasn’t able to do that himself (he always did that) but it was still irritating him that she was adorable one second then all flirty the next. He rolled his eyes even though he knew he was smirking and waited for Clarke’s churros to be ready, just as she did.

# # # # # # # # # # 

“Thank you.” Clarke said as she smiled at the seller who finally gave her, her churros after waiting for almost ten minutes. She didn’t even want to turn her face around to Bellamy because she could imagine that he was pretty annoyed. And she could understand. The churros took so long that she didn’t even want them anymore, but Bellamy had already paid for them (like the gentleman he was) and she didn’t want to be rude, either.

Clarke sighed and turned around to him, ready to face the annoyance in his face, but she was greeted by something else. He looked pretty relaxed for someone that was usually impatient and the sun was literally shining on his face. She hated the fact that he looked this good today. Well, he always did, but the white shirt, burgundy chambray and the grey jeans did it for her. Not to mention the glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose and his curls getting blown by the wind.

She didn’t realize that she was staring until he pulled her closer by their still locked hands.

“You’re in the way,” he said, smirking lightly and Clarke wanted to groan, wanted him to know that she was annoyed with him for being such an asshole and for making her weak, but she didn’t. She thought this date would go differently, cuter perhaps, but she should’ve known that him and her together on a date wouldn’t lead to anything like that. Instead, more like what almost happened back in the changing room of the little shop they had been in. Luckily, they were in it alone.

Still, Clarke didn’t even want to think about it. The only reason why she let herself go full on sex mood was because of his looks and the way he smelt. She didn’t want to get any closer to him anymore than needed because that’s what would happen again; she would try to seduce him without even realizing it, flirting with him and they would probably end up in an alley fucking against the wall, but she didn’t want that. She just wanted a nice and cute date, so she had to get her shit together and she hoped he would keep his too.

“Sorry, lost in thoughts.” Clarke said as she begun walking again, still not letting go of his hand because that’s cute. She wanted to be cute.

“It’s alright. Wanna walk around?” Bellamy questioned whereupon she just nodded. There wasn’t much to say anyway.

Clarke didn’t hate this date. She really didn’t. Actually, she liked it, except for the sexual tension that was rising between them. The weather was nice, there was no drama she had to worry about, and Bellamy was doing her a favour. God, he won the challenge and decided to take her on a date, even though he probably thought himself that all of this could lead in the wrong direction. But it wasn’t awkward with him at all. It felt normal as if they had done this a few times before. He acted just the way he did in the mansion and she didn’t think her behaviour was any different than from when they were staying at the house. She felt comfortable around him and she did want him to know, so she got closer and leaned her head against his shoulder.

She thought he would react to her action somehow negative, she didn’t know why, considering that they were used to being this close to each other, but she just thought he might find this different. Probably because they were walking through the streets of the Santa Monica Pier with a camera team following them, but then again, there were a lot of cameras in the mansion, too. Clarke just pushed the thought out of her mind as soon as he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her. She smiled to herself before she begun eating her churros.

They kept walking around in silence and to be honest, Clarke didn’t mind that either. She was still trying to process everything that happened this week until now and what was yet to come. She wanted to thank her friends for everything they’d done for her, but she didn’t know how. They would probably tell her that she didn’t need to thank them, but she wanted to, and she would find a way to show them how much she appreciated them.

Bellamy stopped walking randomly at one point, pulling Clarke out of her thoughts. She looked around, trying to figure out why he had stopped and followed his gaze to three teenagers that were probably two or three years younger than her. She blinked a few times, taking in what they were doing, but when she did, Bellamy started walking again, pulling her with him. He didn’t walk in a rushed pace, actually, he kept walking just like before, but by taking a look at his facial expression, something changed and she didn’t know what. He clenched and unclenched his jaw a few times, which would usually be a major turn on for her, but right now she was worried.

“Do you want us to go to the beach?” she asked softly.

Bellamy looked down at her for a brief second and Clarke already wanted to punch herself. He was hurt by what they just saw and she had no idea why. She wanted to comfort him, tell him that everything would be fine, but how if she didn’t know what was going on?

Clarke stopped walking and took his hand again instead of leaning against his arm and pulled him with her to the beach. Luckily, they didn’t have to walk much until the got there. She just kept walking around for a little bit, never letting go of his hand as she looked for a nice spot that would shut them off from everyone else. It didn’t take her long to find such a spot and when she did, she finally let go of his hand and told the camera team to give them some time alone. They nodded and made their way back to the main street. Clarke waited until they were out of sight before she turned back to Bellamy.

“Give me the shirt,” she demanded but he shook his head.

“I won’t lay that on the sand, Clarke. You just bought it.” He replied.

Clarke rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest, tilting up her chin. “I’m wearing a dress if you didn’t notice yet. Do you want me to get sand inside my p-”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Bellamy sighed and took the shirt out of the bag before he placed it on the sand. “Here you go, princess.”

“Thanks,” she said before she sat down on it. Bellamy followed her movements and sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on the water in front of them.

Clarke didn’t want to ask him. She wanted him to tell her what hurt him and why it affected him that much, but thinking back to the first fight he had with his sister in the house, she knew it would take him a long time to tell her, if he would even do so. It was nice enough knowing that he trusted not only her, but also their friends about his family story, but she also knew that it probably took a lot of effort to do so. She wouldn’t press him, not at all. She would wait for him as long as it would take him.

The blonde scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder again as she continued eating. Their date already took a turn that she didn’t see coming and to be honest, she wasn’t sure if she liked this. She probably should, since she wished for cute stuff to happen, but this wasn’t cute. This wasn’t what she meant and therefore, she preferred flirting. Well, that would be a lie, because she didn’t prefer it. She just thought it was something so common between them already. But on the other hand, being there for each other, too.

“Octavia used to sell drugs.”

Clarke almost choked on the piece of food she had in her mouth. Octavia sold drugs? She thought she wasn’t hearing him correctly. What the hell did this mean?

She turned her head to Bellamy, but he was still looking at the water, clenching and unclenching his jaw again. Clarke wanted to ask him, she really did, but she didn’t have to because he kept going himself.

“One night, my mum, Aurora, and I fought. I was seventeen and Octavia had been thirteen at that time. She came home pretty late that night and I told her the day before that I wouldn’t be home early myself, so she had to take care of Octavia. But of course, she didn’t.” He stopped talking and took one of her churros instead, eating it himself.

Clarke just waited patiently, giving him the time he needed to continue. Meanwhile, she tried to connect the dots from what he already told her. Octavia used to sell drugs… she could imagine that the reason, therefore, had something to do with their mother, but she wasn’t sure. And she didn’t want to give anyone the fault either. She shook her head and laid it back down on Bellamy’s shoulder.

“I found drugs in her bag. I don’t even remember what kind of drugs, but they were there. And I yelled at her, told my own mother that she was the worst idol ever for Octavia; that she would bring us dark times if she kept taking drugs. I recall how she shook her head and held my hands, telling me that she didn’t take them, but sold them so she could keep us alive.”

Clarke put her food down and grabbed for his hand instead, locking them together again. She squeezed his a little bit, showing him that she was here for him and that she was listening. She wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone and that she would always listen to what he had to say.

“We kept fighting a lot that night. I don’t know how long we had this screaming match going on, but at one point, I was just tired of it all and went to my room. I had to pass Octavia’s to do so and when I saw her standing in the door frame with that afraid look on her face, I knew she heard everything.”

Clarke wanted to cry. She didn’t know how everything went from then on, but she could only imagine that Octavia did the same as her mother. Aurora probably died soon after that and Bellamy had to figure out how to keep them alive. At the age of seventeen… she was just as young as Octavia was at this time and she couldn’t even imagine what all of this was like. In comparison to them, she always had it good, in a big and luxury house with both her mum and dad until… well, until it was only her mum and her. She closed her eyes, listening to the water and to Bellamy’s voice.

“A year later our mum died, shot by her boss or something. I don’t even know how all of it works. Anyway, I had a hard time myself. I had just turned eighteen and didn’t go to college because obviously, we didn’t have the money and I needed to take care of Octavia, which didn’t really work out considering the fact that I had three jobs. Octavia went to a shitty school, so I wasn’t surprised when she once brought friends home with her who were already smoking and drinking alcohol. Keep in mind, they were fourteen years old.”

The blonde opened her eyes again and turned her head a bit on his shoulder to be able to look at him again. She didn’t expect him to be looking at her already, but she smiled slightly anyway. He returned it before looking back to the water.

“I didn’t want her to spend time with them anymore. That’s when we started fighting almost every day. She thought she was mature and old enough to make her own decisions and to stay out as long as she wanted. At one point, I just couldn’t deal with all of it anymore and left for three days. I thought I made the right call, leaving her alone for some days and making her realize that she, in fact, couldn’t handle everything on her own, but when I came back, she did it. The house was clean, she cooked food, even though it didn’t taste all that good.”

Clarke scoffed lightly, smiling to herself. She could imagine that. She’d never been a great cook either.

“Anyway, the year went by surprisingly pretty well. She did good in school and did everything I told her to do and I switched jobs, so I only had one, but gained enough of money for us to move into a small apartment in Brooklyn. We celebrated Octavia’s fifteenth birthday together, just as my nineteenth. Some months later, I fell in love with a girl that I met in a café. Her name was Gina. She was… the greatest, most humble, and nicest person I’ve ever met. Our relationship worked for a year before I kinda fucked up, but that’s another story. We broke up, continued living our lives without each other.”

So, by ‘G’, he meant his ex-girlfriend when he and Octavia were fighting because of the whole Maya drama. Maya reminded him of her and he thought that he didn’t deserve someone like her. God, this was awful and depressing all at the same time.

“One day when I came home from work, Octavia wasn’t home. That happened more often than not, so I didn’t think that there was something wrong or anything. But I hadn’t been home for long, probably only ten minutes, before someone knocked on the door. I opened it, not really questioning who was standing on the other side of the door. But when two police officers were standing in front of me with a search warrant, I thought I was in a movie.”

This time, Clarke sat up correctly and turned sideways so she was facing him. It didn’t matter to her if he was looking her in the eyes or if he kept staring at the water. She just couldn’t act like everything was okay anymore.

“I had no idea what they wanted from me and I kept telling them so. They told me that they had reason to believe that someone who lived in the building we stayed at sold drugs and I only said that I wasn’t that person. They said they had to figure that out themselves and because I knew that I wasn’t selling drugs and I thought that Octavia didn’t either, I even helped them in their search. It was all clean though, but then they took a plant from our balcony and searched in it for anything… well, they found drugs. Lots of them.”

Clarke squeezed his hand again because she knew this was hard for him to tell her. She still couldn’t believe that he was actually telling her this by himself, but that only meant that he really trusted her and she appreciated that. Sure, she never would’ve thought that their date would end like this, but then again, it just brought them closer together.

“Octavia was on her way back home the moment they walked me out of the building in chains. I knew from the moment I saw her that she really did sell drugs just like our mum used to and I wanted to hate her. I wanted her to admit that it wasn’t me and she should go to prison instead, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t and I didn’t. I told her to shut up and to search for Gina. She should go and ask her to take care of her while I would be in prison for two years. Octavia didn’t want to, she wanted to save me so badly, but I just told her ‘my sister, my responsibility’.”

Now Clarke really had to wipe her tears away. This was horrible. All of this was horrible and she felt bad for him; for him and for Octavia, but then again, he went to prison for her. He did what he had to do as a brother and literally went to prison, took her place, so she didn’t have to go through it herself. She couldn’t even deny it anymore. Bellamy was such a great brother and she hated the fact that his relationship with his sister wasn’t the best at the moment, only because of her.

Bellamy turned his head to her and smiled lightly, pulling her closer to him. God, she didn’t want to cry because of this. She didn’t even go through this herself, yet, she was the one crying and he comforted her instead of the other way around. She used the back of her hand to wipe the last tears away that rolled down her cheeks before she faced him again.

“You didn’t have to tell me this, Bellamy…”

He snorted and shook his head. “It’s okay, I just felt like doing so. Are you okay?”

Funny. He was asking her if she was okay even though it was his story. He just told her about his past, something he didn’t tell anyone else, but he seemed fine, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal, but she knew it was huge for him.

Clarke nodded, assuring him that she was fine. “How do I look?” she asked softly.

Bellamy laughed and wiped something away from the edge of her lip with his thumb. It was probably chocolate from eating her dumbass churros. Why was he even able to laugh? After telling her this emotional story he was still able to laugh. God, she…

Clarke took his face in her hands and placed her lips on his. She didn’t know why she was doing this and what she expected to happen after this, but she just needed to. She had no clue why, probably because all of what happened the past few days had been leading up to this. Probably, she wasn’t sure. But when Bellamy kissed her back, she knew that he thought the same.

She didn’t try to turn the kiss into something else, she really didn’t. That’s why she kept kissing him softly and slowly, not so sure of how to handle all the emotions she had to deal with. She just hoped that this actually distracted him from thinking of those stupid teenagers that were dealing drugs a few blocks away from them and apparently it did because he deepened the kiss and even asked for access. She couldn’t help it but smiled lightly against his lips because he was such an idiot. That was confirmed the moment he leaned closer and probably was trying to hold himself up on the sand, but instead, made her fall with him on top of her.

“Bellamy!” Clarke said as she hit his arm. He just laughed and held himself up this time, staying above her as he smiled down at her.

“That’s my name, princess.”

She rolled her eyes and was ready to hit him again, but he caught her by the wrist again, just like some hours ago. But this time, he actually leaned down and kissed her, slowly, but passionate. And if Clarke was being truthful with herself, she couldn’t wish for a better date than this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, i don't have much to say but i guess you guys have. let me know what you think of this chapter in the comments!  
> next update will be on wednesday. 
> 
> much love xo


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again, we are one step closer to my favorite chapters!
> 
> but first, chapter 12. it's shorter than the other chapters but still important things are happening. enjoy!

5.45 pm.

Bellamy swept his eyes from the window over to Clarke who was sitting on the other side of the backseat. She had her head leaned against her window and he knew that she was sleeping. She hadn’t changed her position for fifteen minutes straight and he noticed how she got more tired at the end of their date. Bellamy smiled slightly to himself, remembering everything that had happened back at the pier. From the little shop to the churros truck, leading to the beach and him telling Clarke about his past and that how his sister used to deal with drugs. He never thought he would tell anybody about that since it was such a huge part of his life and he had never been sure of how people would react to it, but somehow, he felt like Clarke was the right person to talk to. And it turned out that he made the right call, even though hearing the story clearly had affected her more than him telling it to her. Bellamy did feel better now, after finally having it spoken out and he knew that Clarke would keep it to herself. That was just who she was.

He turned his head to the front, looking at Octavia and Lincoln who were sitting in the row in front of them. Bellamy had seen her smile when all the pairs returned to the meeting spot, where they had to wait for two cars to pick them up. Seeing his sister like this was all he wanted and if Lincoln was able to make her happy, he was fine with that. He wouldn’t get in between whatever they had, although he still didn’t know much about the older one, which was weird. They spent a lot of time together already, yet he knew almost nothing about him.

Bellamy shook his head and faced Clarke again, who was still leaning against the window. He sighed and unlatched her seat belt. Before he decided to do anything else, he waited since she could wake up any moment. She didn’t open her eyes and her breathing remained the same, so he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, placing her head on his shoulder. He knew that they agreed to keep the arrangement they made before, keeping their hands off each other around anyone from the house and not telling anyone that something ever happened between them. But after she kissed him for the third time because a girl was looking at him for too long in a supermarket, he didn’t know if they would be able to do that. Sure, Clarke told him that she just wanted to kiss him, without any intentions, but when he noticed how the girl was looking between him and Clarke, he knew that she did it for other reasons. So why not let her sleep in a more comfortable way?

“Bellamy?” He lifted his head and met Lincoln’s gaze. The older one just sent him a light smile and kept his voice down. “She sleeping?”

Bellamy nodded, turning his head back down to Clarke to check if she still was as he pushed a strand of hair out of her face. After that, he faced Lincoln again.

“Yeah.”

The other man nodded too, then turned his head to his little sister who had her head turned towards the front. She didn’t pay them any attention. On the one side, it made Bellamy feel a bit more comfortable, knowing that Octavia had already questioned what was going on between him and Clarke. But then again, he hated that she didn’t talk to him anymore, only because he forgave Clarke and she didn’t. He asked himself if this would ever end, but what scared him even more was the fact that he probably knew the answer already.

Lincoln faced him again, sweeping his eyes from him, to Clarke, then back to him. Bellamy tilted his head to the side as he raised one of his brows.

“Right,” Lincoln begun before a light smile crossed his face again. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but Octavia forgave Clarke already-”

His sister spun her head around, looking between Lincoln and him before she fixed her gaze on the older one again.

“I told you not to tell him this!” she yelled.

“Can you shut up!?” Bellamy said quietly, but loud enough for his sister to notice that he was slightly pissed; Once because she was screaming while Clarke was asleep, and because apparently, she did forgive Clarke but still wasn’t talking to him. All of this didn’t add up. What was he supposed to think now? That his sister hated and gave him the fault for all of the drama? Probably. That’s what Octavia used to do when they were younger so it wouldn’t surprise him.

“Sorry?”

“Octavia…” just as his sister, Bellamy turned his attention back to Lincoln. “You said it yourself. You want everything to be fine again but nothing will if you don’t talk to your brother first.”

Well, that was great. Usually, he was the one talking to his sister like that, now it was a man she met four weeks ago. Bellamy attended this show for her, and yet their relationship only spiraled since they were here. It felt like she didn’t appreciate that he was here. Sure, she never wanted that in the first place, but it did seem like she was happy about him being here too. All of this was a mess and if her friends wouldn’t forgive Clarke and apparently him too, nothing would get better.

Octavia sighed and turned her head towards him, rolling her eyes. “Fine.”

Clarke shifted a bit against Bellamy’s forearm, so he swept his eyes to her for a brief second, checking if she was still asleep. Luckily, she still was, so he fixed his gaze on his sister again. She had her brow raised at him but he just rolled his eyes and tilted his chin at her.

“So? You gonna apologize?” he asked.

Octavia frowned. “Apologize? For what? To who?”

Bellamy groaned and hit his head against the seat, closing his eyes. “Forget it.”  
  
“Okay.”

He sighed. There wasn’t much he could do. Octavia always had been stubborn; that wouldn’t change from one day to another. If she didn’t think that she should apologize or if she just didn’t want to… he couldn’t force her to do it. And it clearly wouldn’t be something that came from her heart. She would do it, sooner or later she would.

Bellamy opened his eyes again and leaned forward, checking if Clarke was awake yet. She had her eyes closed, meaning she was still asleep and he wouldn’t wake her up until they would reach the house again. He grabbed for the bag that had her shirt and his birthday present for her in it and took out his flannel shirt that he hadn’t put back on again amidst their date because it got too hot. He placed it over her legs, using it as a blanket for her since she was shivering. It seemed like she started to get ill and that worried him. For sure, he could ask Jackson as soon as they would be back at the house, but then again, they didn’t even talk to each other. Whatever, he would go to him if she didn’t feel better by the end of the day.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Clarke didn’t feel well, not at all. She was tired, felt sick and the fact that the pain in her abdomen was back didn’t make it easier for her.

When they arrived at the mansion, Bellamy already started bombarding her with questions: if she was feeling hot or if she felt the urge to throw up, but she just shook her head and told him that she was fine. She didn’t want him to worry about her, especially not because it could also mean that her period was coming which was exactly what was supposed to happen. God, she hated this one week of the month and she planned on doing nothing but lying inside her bed, drinking hot chocolate, and sleeping a little bit more. But of course, things wouldn’t go the way she wanted.

The moment Bellamy and her entered their bedroom, she had to stop in her tracks and blink a few times, gathering in what she saw in front of her. As usual, her roommates, Jasper and Monty were already in there. They probably preferred waiting for them upstairs than on the first floor where the other participants had spent their time, which was understandable. But what irritated and surprised her, and probably Bellamy too, was the fact that Raven, Emori, Miller, and Roan were also in their room.

Clarke frowned, but decided that acting normal was all she could do, so she walked further inside and made her way to the closet immediately. If they already waited for Bellamy and her to come back, they also could wait for her to change into some comfortable clothes.

Gladly, no one followed her. She closed the door behind her and locked it before she sat down and hit the back of her head against it, arms wrapped around her stomach, eyes shut. She had no idea what was going on right now; with her friends, with her being sick. She just wanted to have a good day, but after she left the pier with Bellamy everything seemed to get worse. They just should’ve stayed there.

A knock on the door was what brought her back to reality. She stood up and wiped some tears away that had rolled down her cheeks before she went to her dresser and took some joggers and a top out of it.

“Clarke, you alright?”  
  
Harper. She didn’t expect her to be the one to come and ask her if everything was fine, but then again, it also made sense. Clarke was pretty sure that Bellamy knew she wouldn’t tell him what was going on, so sending someone else to check on her was what he went with. He really was a mother hen.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Give me five minutes and I’ll be outside!” she assured her friend.

“Okay, don’t worry. Take your time.”

As soon as Clarke was sure that she left, she started changing. It was a bit harder than usual due to the pain in her stomach. But eventually, she was all dressed again and went to the mirror with everything she needed to remove her makeup.

Only by looking at her reflection in the mirror, she could see how tired she was. That meant that everyone else saw it too and she hated herself for it. They probably thought that she didn’t enjoy her date with Bellamy, considering the look on her face and since she knew that he wouldn’t tell them much about it. They could all think that something happened between them, and nothing positive.

Clarke sighed and just cleaned her face. If she continued wasting so much time, she would never get her sleep anymore. Especially not with Aryana arriving soon and the Truth Booth coming up. God, this would be the first time that she had to do this herself. Being nervous about the fact that Bellamy and her could’ve been chosen and everything that had to do with it. She didn’t even know if she would be able to sit there considering how she felt in this moment.

She threw away the cottons she used to clean her face and put her stuff back into her toiletry bag. There was no way she would get around the confrontation that was going to happen on the other side of the door. She sighed one last time before she swung the door open and turned off the light, walking back into the bedroom. Luckily, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing and didn’t show her that much attention which was exactly what she needed.

The blonde strolled over to her bed where she could see Bellamy, sitting from afar. She hoped that he wouldn’t ask her again if she was doing alright. But to be sure, she sent him a light smile as she sat down next to him, which he returned.

“Why are they here?” she asked him but all she got as a response was him shrugging his shoulders. She sighed and laid down on her stomach, resting her head on her arms.

Clarke could feel Bellamy’s gaze on her but she ignored it and waited for something else to happen as she observed the conversation Raven and Emori were having. She missed the both of them, having casual talks with them or speaking with Emori about her sex life with Murphy. Between her and Raven, things had been unsteady for quite a while now. It felt like she just spent her first week with her. But for her getting back to old manners with Raven, Octavia and Emori was all she wanted, even though she knew she couldn’t have it.

The moment she wanted to close her eyes to take a nap, the door opened and Octavia entered the room with Lincoln, closing it behind them. Clarke sat up, because she knew what was about to come; they would all have a conversation about what happened in the past few days. It was weird having each one of _La Familia_ back in one room, but on the other hand, that’s how it was supposed to be, them all together without keeping anybody away from each other. Yet, she could be wrong. They could be here to tell them that they were happy with how everything turned out, but then again, Octavia did forgive her already. God, all of this was so confusing and if nobody would start talking soon, she would freak out.

Luckily, everyone stopped talking as soon as Lincoln and Octavia sat down and got comfortable. It didn’t change that there was something rising above their heads and nobody wanted to speak about it first. Everyone was quiet and swept their eyes through the room, waiting for someone to speak up, but just as all her friends, Clarke wasn’t ready to do this. She didn’t want to be the one to open the conversation and thankfully she wasn’t the one to do it.

“Guess I’m the one that has to go first, huh?” Bellamy asked.

Clarke could see how Raven shook her head a few spots away from her. “Not really. We want to say something first. Emori, Octavia, Miller, Jasper and Roan.”

Bellamy sighed but motioned Raven to keep going. She nodded and turned around, facing Clarke now.

“Alright, first of all; sorry. Of course that’s the first thing we want to say because we acted like children. We understand now that the way we acted towards Clarke and to everyone else was disrespectful and if we could turn back time, we would try to make things better. It wasn’t fair for us to just separate us from you guys and we really want to make things better again.”

Clarke started chewing on her lip. She knew that her friends wouldn’t give in that easily and just accept such an apology. But on the other hand, she didn’t do much either and just apologized millions of times until they told her to leave. She could understand that they wouldn’t be satisfied, but they should also keep in mind that this was the exact same reason why it took the others til now to forgive her.

“We get that and we accept your apology, even though it’s a bit flat.” Murphy said and Clarke had to roll her eyes. She understood where he was coming from, but she really didn’t want this to turn into a fight between her two group of friends. Well, now they tried to get back together, but it would be hard if things would keep going this way.

“Whatever, Murphy.” Roan replied as he waved him off.

“You have a problem?” Murphy questioned as he got up and walked closer to Roan who stood up and met him halfway. Luckily, Miller was quick enough to get in between them.

“Guys, relax! We all want it to get better again but if you keep fighting like bitches nothing is going to!”

Clarke mouthed him a thank you when she saw him sweeping her eyes over to her. He nodded and pushed Roan back to where he was sitting before.

“Alright,” Octavia started as she rose from her spot. “Since I’m the one to blame for all of this, I want to speak for us again. Raven kinda fucked it up. Sorry, Rae.”

Raven just shrugged her shoulders and motioned her to go on. “Anyway. I had to think a lot about what I personally wanted because I was the one who didn’t want to forgive you first, Clarke. The others just followed me and tried to have my back though. Emori and Jasper were the first people to feel bad and it didn’t take them long to decide that they wanted to forgive you. I gave them the green light, but they didn’t do it because they were still hurt by you. But the moment we noticed that all of our relationships that we built in the past few weeks were hurt by it too, like Murphy’s and Emori’s relationship or Lincoln’s and mine, we knew that we couldn’t keep it going. But I guess you know from my brother that I’m a stubborn bitch and since I didn’t want to give in, the others didn’t want to either. Until today, that is.”

Octavia fixed her gaze on Clarke, which made her feel a bit uncomfortable. Sure, the younger one directed most of the speech towards her because everything started because of her, but she still thought that this was too much attention.

The brunette sent her a light smile which Clarke returned before she continued her little speech.

“I don’t have to go into detail for what happened when we met in the bathroom. I do believe you want to keep that conversation between us anyway.” Octavia winked at her and she really had to let out a chuckle.

“I just really hope you see that you’re important to us, Clarke. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been as hurt as we were. But now different times are coming and especially your birthday. Seems like we could get back to _La Familia_ before that, hm? Would’ve been weird anyway not being able to celebrate it with you… whatever. We hope that you know that this comes from our hearts. We love you so much and hate ourselves even more for the fact that we put you through this. And not only you, but also everyone else.”

Clarke smiled, feeling a lot better than she did the past few days. She really thought that nothing would be the same again and that she lost all her friends, but she didn’t. They always were and would be together, nothing was going to get in between them.

Octavia cleared her throat as she swept her eyes through the room but stopped the moment she looked at Bellamy. Clarke turned her face to him too, following his gaze that landed on his little sister. She frowned, not realizing what was happening until Octavia raised her voice again.

“I also want to apologize to you, big brother. Not only for what I did to Clarke, but also for ignoring and avoiding you. It wasn’t fair, hating you for defending someone I kinda disliked for a few days. It was childish… just as childish as… you know. I want to thank you for everything you did for me. And if I say everything, then I mean it. From protecting me during bad times, to raising me on your own. For… saving me from the one thing I regret most in life. I wish I never pulled you into all of this and I hope you can forgive me. I love you, Bellamy.”

Clarke swept her eyes from Octavia to Bellamy a few times before he stood up and walked over to his sister, hugging her. She was sure that everyone else around her didn’t understand what the last part was about, but she did. Octavia apologized for being the reason why he had been in prison. Clarke sighed, but smiled to herself as she looked down at her hands. She didn’t keep paying attention to what was happening around her, but a lot of people were talking so she guessed it was over.

The blonde lifted her head again, only to get greeted by Raven and Emori.

“Can we-” Raven started but Clarke cut her off, shaking her head.

“I don’t want you guys to apologize anymore. It’s fine. I understand why you were so bitter about the whole situation. I just want you to know that I’m glad to have you again.”

Clarke stood up and hugged both of her friends. She really did miss them and the fact that they were now back together was everything she could’ve wished for. The day didn’t seem to be as bad as she thought, but she was still tired and wanted hot chocolate before she would go to sleep.

She let go of her friends before she took a look over their shoulder, searching for Bellamy but he wasn’t in the room anymore. She sighed and faced her friends again, who were exchanging a look.

“What?” she asked, confusion written all over her face.

Raven tilted her chin up and folded her arms in front of her chest. “You have to tell us how your date with Bellamy went.”

Clarke groaned as she threw her head back towards her neck. She should’ve known that they wanted her to tell them about it, but she had to push it off until sometime later.

“Okay, I’ll do it, but I have to take a nap first. Is that okay?”

Emori nodded before she turned around and used her fingers to whistle. Everyone in the room turned their attention to her friend and stopped talking.

“Clarke is tired, my friends. Let’s give her an hour to herself, yeah?”

No one protested but hugged her again, apologizing for everything that had happened and told her that she should take a nap as long as she needed. They would be in her old room and said that she could join as soon as she would be awake again. She told everyone the same thing: no need to apologize anymore, she would do so and when they ran into Bellamy, that they should tell him to get her hot chocolate with a marshmallow on top. They all assured her that they would do so before they left the room.

And then she was alone.

It was as silent as it hadn’t been for a while. Clarke smiled to herself as she sat down on top of the bed she shared with Bellamy. She couldn’t believe that this whole week took such a drastic turn. If someone had asked her if she ever thought this would happen, she definitely would have answered no. First, Bellamy won the challenge for her and even though their date had its ups and downs, she was glad with the way it turned out. Now, she had all of her friends back together and her cramps from earlier where gone.

Clarke laid down under the blanket, turned towards the door so she would be able to see Bellamy if he walked in with her hot chocolate. That’s everything she wanted now before she would take a nap. Unfortunately, he didn’t enter the room after five minutes nor after ten, or fifteen. So when Bellamy finally walked into the room with the cup in his hand, she was already asleep. The only thing he could do was put it on her nightstand for when she woke up and kiss her forehead before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

# # # # # # # # # # 

12.15 am.

Bellamy turned off the stove the moment he knew that the soup he made was ready. It didn’t bother him that he had to cook past midnight, not at all. Clarke had been asleep since 6.30 pm., and therefore she didn’t eat anything yet. He wasn’t sure if she would wake up soon, but if he needed to wake her up himself so she could eat, he would do it. That was the least he could do for everything she did for him already.

He turned around and took a bowl out of a cupboard that was above the working surface across the kitchen island. He grabbed a spoon and turned back around before he took a step backwards.

“Jesus Christ, Monty.” he gasped.

“Sorry.” Monty responded.

Bellamy shook his head but got closer to the island again. He filled the bowl with the soup while Monty sat down onto one of the bar stools right across from him. He wouldn’t tell him to leave him alone, why would he? Monty was his friend and whatever he planned to do down here wasn’t that important to him. Alright, that would be a lie.

As soon as the bowl was filled, he put the pot into the sink and placed his hands on the island as he tilted his chin at his friend.

“What are you doing here, Monty?” he asked.

Monty looked over to the way that lead upstairs before he faced him again. Bellamy raised a brow at him whereupon his friend sighed but motioned him to continue doing his thing. He nodded and strolled over to the sink where he then started cleaning everything he had used for making Clarke’s soup.

“I shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t sleep and decided to get some water. Didn’t expect you to be downstairs yourself.” Monty said.

Bellamy wasn’t sure if what he was telling him was some bullshit or if he really needed to drink something. But he knew that Monty wasn’t a liar so he could only imagine that it was the truth.

“So get yourself some water?” Monty nodded and jumped off the stool before he made his way to the fridge. “Also, Clarke didn’t eat anything and she’s been asleep since our group decided to get back together. I know she doesn’t feel well so that’s the least I can do for her. It’s not like she let’s me take care of her anyway.”

He grabbed a kitchen towel to dry the pot. Meanwhile, Monty walked back to the other side of the island but didn’t sit down like before. He stopped right in front of him and placed the water bottle on it then laid his elbows right next to it.

“She’s not awake yet?”

Bellamy shook his head in response before he put the pot back inside one of the cupboards. He closed it and leaned against the counter behind him as he dried his hands.

“She’s fine, Bellamy. Don’t worry too much for no reason, okay? Sometimes you have to take care of yourself rather than always playing dad for everyone else. Excluding Clarke, that’s different…”

He frowned, not quite understanding where he wanted to go with it, but he just pushed it out of his mind and focused on the first part.

“I can’t just stop worrying about her when she’s been in pain for a few days now. She didn’t eat and she missed everything that happened after our group reunited. I’m not sorry for wanting to take care of her.” he exclaimed.

“If you want to take care of her because she did when you were sick, then it’s stupid. Clarke knows that you care about her you don’t have to show it to her in this way. You did enough for her already, Bellamy. Don’t think you’re a bad… friend.”

Bellamy crooked his head to the side and rolled his eyes before he pushed himself from the counter and hung up the towel.

“Yeah right.” he murmured.

“I’m serious. Just keep in mind that she knows.” Monty said as he hit the island and got up correctly. “I’m going to sleep. Don’t stay for too long and get your own rest.”

Bellamy nodded as Monty sent him a light smile before he made his way upstairs. His friend was right. He couldn’t force Clarke to let him take care of her, but he didn’t like that she was acting as if she was fine. How could she expect him to do nothing while she’s sleeping next to him in pain and having cramps? He had no idea how she could think of him being that egoistic, going back to sleep instead of trying to make her feel better.

He shook his head, grabbed the bowl and the spoon before he walked out of the kitchen. He turned off the light before he made his way upstairs. Hopefully, she was awake now and could finally eat something.

# # # # # # # # # # 

12.25 am.

It was almost pitch black when Clarke blinked her eyes open. Not a sound around her. She lifted her head slightly and noticed that she was lying on her stomach in the middle of the bed. It made her frown quite a bit but she just placed her head back on the pillow. She had no idea how long she had been asleep but she felt more tired than before, which meant that she must have slept for a pretty long time.

Clarke turned her head to the other side, looking at the window that was a few meters away from her bed. Since the curtains were pulled in front of it, she couldn’t see how dark it was outside. But by focusing on her surroundings, she knew that it had to be pretty late, if not already the next day.

The blonde sighed and turned on her spine. She didn’t feel that much better yet but she was kind of hungry. That only reminded her of the fact that she didn’t eat anything before she decided to take a nap. Fuck. That only meant that she missed the Truth Booth too and that she left Bellamy alone. They could’ve been called into it and she wasn’t there. God, what a disaster.

Clarke sat up and rubbed her eyes before she noticed that it wasn’t as dark in the room as she thought. One nightstand lamp was turned on, just enough for the person to see what they were trying to read. She didn’t want to scare her and make her freak out, so Clarke cleared her throat, making the person look at her. It was Sasha.

“You’re awake.” she pointed out.

Clarke nodded and changed her position, now sitting cross-legged on the bed. Sasha sent her a light smile which she returned. She looked around, seeing that everyone else was already asleep. Clarke turned her head over her shoulder, keeping her gaze on the bedsheets for a second before she turned her attention back to her friend.

“Sasha?”

“Yeah?” the other girl said, lifting her gaze from the book she had been reading.

“Where’s Bellamy?” she asked.

Clarke could see how Sasha placed a bookmark in her book before she closed it and put it on the nightstand.

“He wanted to get you food in case you would wake up. He left half an hour ago or even earlier I don’t really remember.”

Clarke nodded. Sure he would be cooking something for her, she could’ve guessed that. But as much as she wanted to be annoyed by it, she was too tired and hungry to care about it now. It was a nice gesture of him, even though he should be sleeping himself right now.

“Okay, thanks,” she said as she laid down again, body turned towards the door so she would be able to see Bellamy come back.

“No need to.” Sasha replied to her.

Her friend turned her light off. Now it was not only silent again, but also pitch dark. Clarke should probably turn on her own light, so Bellamy wouldn’t trip over something. She sighed and sat up again before she scooted over to the left end of the bed, turned on the light, but dimmed it enough as to not wake Zeke. She laid back down, same position like a few seconds ago, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She was glad that her pain wasn’t there anymore, but she didn’t know how long it would take to kick back in.

Clarke turned back on her spine before she placed her feet on the bed and closed her eyes, still holding the blanket. As much as she liked how the events of the day turned out, she wasn’t so sure how everything would go from now on. First, she kissed Bellamy, more than once and she had no idea what was supposed to happen next between them. He was a great friend, no question, he was fantastic in bed, no question either, but he wasn’t her perfect match. She knew that nothing should start again between them, but then again the sexual tension that was rising amidst them wasn’t to withstand.

And then there were her friends. They all forgave her and _La Familia_ was now back together but for sure everything wouldn’t go that easily. She knew that her friends said they would try to get back to how it was before their big fight, especially for her birthday, yet she didn’t know if that would work. Sure, that was everything she wanted and she hoped that it was going to be just like it used to, but she didn’t want to hope for anything and think that it actually would be the way it was. No need for false hope.

The sound of the door being closed pulled her out of her thoughts. Clarke sat up and sent Bellamy a light smile when he walked towards the bed. He returned it for a brief second before he placed a bowl with steaming food inside on his nightstand.

“You okay?” he asked her, keeping his voice down as he got under the blanket. He scooted back until his back hit the headboard and turned his face towards her.

Clarke nodded and leaned above him, grabbed the bowl and sat back down, still facing him.

“Thanks,” she said, looking him straight in the eyes. “for the soup.” Bellamy scoffed a little but nodded right after that. “I’m serious. Thank you.”

“It’s okay, Clarke. You didn’t have real food yet and missed dinner, that’s the least I could’ve done for you.” he replied, smirking slightly.

Clarke rolled her eyes but started eating anyway with a light smile on her lips. She had no idea why Bellamy could make her smile that easily, but she didn’t want to question it either. It was enough for her, especially in the current state she was in. She couldn’t be mad at him for taking care of her and as much as she wanted to be, the second she saw him again, she wasn’t angry anymore.

The blonde lifted her spoon and blew on it a little bit, ready to put it back in her mouth but she could feel Bellamy’s gaze on her, so she put the spoon back in the bowl. She didn’t move, just waited for him to focus on something else but he didn’t. Clarke raised her head and met his gaze immediately.

“Stop looking at me.” she said quietly.

Bellamy’s smirk grew wider as he slid a little bit down. “Why? Is it distracting you?”

“Keep your voice down.” she replied before she started eating again.

As glad as Clarke was that he didn’t answer her and kept his mouth shut instead, he was still watching her eat. She wanted him to stop, but she also knew that talking to him wouldn’t change his mind. And it wasn’t like she felt really uncomfortable with his gaze on her, it just made her think of what was running through his mind.

Clarke lifted her head again, meeting his gaze. She tilted her head to the side and raised one of her brows.

“What is it?” she questioned.

Bellamy mimicked her movements and crooked his head to the side, too.

“You don’t want to know who got into the Truth Booth and if we got a match or not?”

Clarke widened her eyes as she put the spoon back into the bowl. She placed it in her lap soon after that before she let out a breath and nodded, motioning him that she was ready to hear.

“Not us.”

The blonde hit his arm. “Spit it out, Bellamy. I’m tired.”

Bellamy reached over and grabbed her plate before he placed it on his nightstand again. He leaned his back against the headboard after that and turned his head to the side, facing her again.

“Octavia and Lincoln got voted into it.” he uttered.

“Oh my- and? Are they a match or not? Bellamy!”

“Didn’t you say keep your voice down?” he hissed. Clarke sat up correctly and swept her eyes through the room, looking for someone that woke up because of their conversation. But no one moved, so she faced Bellamy again.

“Are they a perfect match, yes or no?” she whispered.

Bellamy sighed as he rolled his eyes and reached for the bowl of soup again, now eating it himself. Clarke didn’t know if he was playing with her or why it took him so long to answer the question. It was an easy one after all, and there weren’t many options anyway.

“Bellamy.” she said warningly, scooting closer now. If he wasn’t going to answer her on his own, she would make him.

“Mhm?”

“Stop eating and tell me if they’re a match or not.” she demanded, now sitting right next to him.

Bellamy turned his face back to her and licked his lips. Clarke blinked a few times, trying to figure out in her own mind if he did this intentionally or not. But even if; fuck. There was no need for him to do that right now and she hated that it kind of made her forget about what they were talking about. She frowned a bit and pulled her face slightly away from him before she cleared her throat.

“Perfect Match.”

Clarke was about to scream but Bellamy cut her off as he cupped her chin and leaned forward, colliding his lips with her own. Although, Clarke was shocked for a second, it didn’t take her long to close her eyes and kiss him back. His lips were just too addicting to not return the kiss. She tilted her head to the side, so she was able to deepen it whilst wrapping her arms around his neck.

The moment Bellamy scooted back a bit, Clarke heard herself whimper. She didn’t realize herself how much she wanted this until she followed him, not ready to stop the kiss yet. It turned out that he just pulled back to turn off the light which showed her that he wanted this as much as she did. And although there was a high possibility of one of their roommates waking up now, she pushed the bowl from his lap behind her and straddled him.

Bellamy wrapped one of his arms around her back, pulling her closer to him. Clarke moaned lightly against his lips and raked her fingers through his hair, grabbing it a bit harder and causing Bellamy to groan. She knew that they shouldn’t keep going, that they should stop because they weren’t alone in this room. And they didn’t want anybody to know that something was going on between them, but then again…

Clarke parted her lips, giving Bellamy’s tongue access which turned their kiss into much more. It now was more passionate, but exciting at the same time, his tongue fluttering against hers, even though she kind of reached the point of needing air. But she didn’t want to pull back, breaking the kiss just for the reason of breathing again. She wanted to be rational, to make the right decisions, but the only thing that seemed to be right at the moment was kissing him back. Sadly, Bellamy didn’t see it the same way.

He turned them around, her on her spine with him on top of her. He pulled back and placed his elbows right next to her face, so he wasn’t pressing his body against hers. Now, she was able to breathe again, and she did, but never stopped looking Bellamy right back in the eyes, seeing her own blue eyes in his brown ones, until he rolled off her and laid down next to her.

Clarke wanted to ask him why he broke the kiss, why he thought it was the right thing to do, but the rational part of her mind pushed its way back to the front and she knew why. She sighed, but turned sideways, now facing him, since he was turned in her direction already.

“What was that?” she breathed out. “A goodnight kiss?”

Bellamy snorted and sat up before he reached blindly for the bowl and placed it back on the nightstand. He laid back down seconds later and turned towards her again.

“Count it as one.” he replied, probably with a smirk on his face by the way his voice sounded.

Now Clarke was the one to scoff. “Do I get them every night from now on?”

She wasn’t quite sure why she asked this, because they didn’t talk about keeping what they had after their date. So, she was kind of anxious about his answer. Clarke started chewing on her lip, hoping that he wouldn’t reject her.

“Yeah.” Bellamy said as he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips before he pulled back again. “You’ll get one every night. Now try to sleep again, okay?”

“Mhm.” was all Clarke said in response.

She turned around and scooted back until she could feel Bellamy’s chest against her back. He didn’t say anything, just wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her even closer to him. Clarke sighed again and closed her eyes. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was Bellamy’s steady breathing against her neck.

# # # # # # # # # # 

12.50 am.

_ Camera Room _ _– Gossip Gang (Zeke and Murphy)_

Zeke closed the door behind him as quietly as possible while Murphy turned on the camera.

“You think this is a good idea?” he asked his friend.

Murphy looked up from the camera and rolled his eyes at him as he motioned Zeke to sit down on the couch already. He sighed but did as told. Murphy pressed the record button before he sat down next to Zeke and smirked lightly as soon as he was comfortable.

_“I didn’t know that having to pee would bring me so much luck.”_ he said.

Zeke hit the back of his head in response. _“Really? Should I be thankful now for not being able to sleep with a specific amount of light in a room?”_

_“Yes.”_ Murphy said as he rolled his eyes. _“Whatever. Hubby and Wifey are trying hard to keep what’s going on between them a secret, but they’re dumb enough to make out in a room with a bunch of people.”_

_“It’s just hilarious at this point. They don’t think we notice the sexual tension between them or how they both are always worried about the other one. They’re really dumb if they think we don’t see it.”_

Murphy snorted and clapped his hands together. _“Bellamy and Clarke are the dumbest people I’ve ever met when it comes to Love, Sex, Feelings and Emotions. I don’t even know if they know any other word than sex.”_

As much as Zeke wanted to keep being nice, he knew Murphy was right. Whatever was going on between them or shouldn’t, in their opinion, was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Starting with Clarke drifting off more than once when Bellamy didn’t show up for two days, her worrying about him being sick just like the other way around, and if he would start talking about what he saw in the closet before they went on their date together, he would speak long enough to make the camera run out of its battery.

_“Anyway,”_ he started, placing his elbows on his thighs and leaning forward. _“We’re going to observe this for a little longer. But the moment it gets ridiculous we’re probably going to get involved.”_

_“Oh, I can’t wait.”_ Murphy said, grinning into the camera before he turned it off.

They had to go back to sleep so they could be fully awake for Clarke’s birthday. They wanted her day to be as good as it could be for her and they would try everything to make this day go down in the show’s history. And they knew with Bellamy by their sides, it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys ready for clarke's birthday chapters? because, i am!  
> it all starts on sunday, can't wait to post. see you guys and as always...
> 
> much love xo


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! here's part 1 of celebrating into clarke's birthday. i hope you guys like it,
> 
> enjoy!

8.30 pm.

“Red or blue?”

Clarke groaned as she let herself drop onto the floor of the closet in front of the mirror, cross-legged. Emori sat down next to it, mimicking her position. Raven and Octavia just kept fumbling through Clarke’s drawer, taking clothes out of it and dropping them in front of her. It was too much.

They had been in there for 2 hours now and the blonde wasn’t satisfied with any outfit that they picked for her. Either it was too sexy and seducing or she felt underdressed. She didn’t want to stand out from the whole group even though Emori and Raven told her that this was exactly how things should go. She was the birthday girl and therefore, she had to dress up fittingly. She placed her face in her hands, screaming into them.

“That means nor red nor blue. Octavia, take the green one.” Raven demanded, but Clarke was faster.

She got up on her feet again and turned to both of her friends, snatching the dresses they were holding out of their hands. She threw them on the floor before she glared at the both of them.

“Listen, I don’t want to wear a fucking dress. I’ll be totally wasted and there’s no need to overdress in this case. Let me just wear some comfortable pants like Bellamy always uses to!”

Octavia raised her eyebrow at her while Raven’s jaw dropped open for a bit. Only then she realized what just came out of her mouth. She frowned, not really understanding why she went there herself. Clarke shook her head lightly before she shrugged her shoulders.

“What? He always wears sweatpants. Apparently, they’re comfortable.”

“You have to know since you wore them.” Octavia said jokingly.

Clarke rolled her eyes and walked to her drawer. She should’ve known that her friend would say something like this since she recognized her brother’s sweats on her back in week one. She still couldn’t believe that he had picked lacy red underwear for her back in the day for literally no reason. Sure, he had seen her in them after they took their ‘shower’, but that was it. He never saw them again and he didn’t pull them off either. She smirked to herself when she spotted them in the back of her drawer but searched for something else inside of it.

“If you find something, tell us.” Emori uttered the second she turned around, holding up a black leather skirt and a lacy black bodysuit.

“What about this?” she asked her friends, sweeping her eyes from one to another.

Raven crooked her head to the side and furrowed her brows a bit while Octavia looked at the outfit with a smirk on her lips. Emori got up from the floor and went over to where her shoes were lying.

“Heels or sneaker?”

“Neither of them.” Raven said as she stood up and made her way over to Emori. She bent forward and grabbed a pair of shoes as Clarke scooted closer herself, taking a look at which pairs she picked.

Raven held them up, looking between her friends, grinning. “If you want to be a biker bitch then you have to wear your Dr. Martens.”

Octavia’s smirk grew wider as she took them out of her friend’s hand and placed them on the floor.

“Do you want me to tell Bellamy to wear his, so you guys could be matching?” she asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

Clarke rolled her eyes again but had to smile herself as she threw some pair of socks against the younger one.

“Stop mentioning him every time you have the opportunity to.”

“We’ll do that until you finally tell us about your date with him! It can’t be that hard to talk about it!” Raven exclaimed as she took Clarke’s outfit out of her hands.

The blonde just shook her head and took the red pair of lacy panties, placing them on top of the dresser.

“I won’t. Nothing big happened, so there’s nothing to tell you either.”

“You’re such a bad liar, Griffin.” Emori said, rolling her eyes at the same time that she grinned.

Clarke just shrugged her shoulders and took her toiletries before she walked towards the door, stopping and looking over her shoulder.

“Perhaps.” she replied as she winked then made her way out of the closet.

She still had to take her shower so she could get ready for her birthday party. She really didn’t expect anything to be big, she just wanted to have fun with her friends and get wasted. Nothing else. Her pain didn’t kick in once today and after weeks of suffering, she finally felt good again. It seemed like today would actually turn out to be a great night and nobody could take that away from her.

# # # # # # # # # # 

9.30 pm.

It was pretty early for a birthday party to already be in full swing, but no one minded. The living room was filled with Clarke and all of her friends. They told the other participants that they would celebrate her birthday, but most of them didn’t really want to join. The group had no idea why, but were glad when Luna and Wells decided to come downstairs anyway. The only person that they didn’t expect to see was Finn.

It wasn’t like Clarke hated him, she just didn’t think of him as one of her friends… or anything. He was just someone she had a past with even though she wished she hadn’t. She had to live with it and him in one house and she would be able to do it, but that didn’t mean she wanted to have him at her party. Still, she couldn’t throw him out and although Raven offered to do it herself, she decided against it. They didn’t own the living room, so they couldn’t throw him out either.

She was currently sitting on the carpet, Harper and Emori across from her. The latter was telling them one of her college stories as Clarke brought her cup to her lips. Only then she noticed that it was empty, _again_. She frowned a bit, remembering that she had just gotten a new drink fifteen minutes ago, but she just shrugged it off and got up.

“I’m going to get another drink.” she told her friends while showing them the inside of her cup. They just waved her off with a smile on their faces. That was her moment to go.

Clarke walked over to the kitchen area of the first floor and stopped across from Miller and Zeke who were standing behind the island. She sat down on one of the stools that was positioned next to the one Sasha was sitting on. The girl smiled at her and Clarke grinned in response before the both of them turned their attention to Miller and Zeke. They were mixing some drinks and as far as Clarke could tell, they didn’t exist before.

“What are you doing?” she asked Miller.

He lifted his gaze from a cup, to her and smirked lightly before looking back at it. He started shaking the cup while motioning Zeke to give him a nice glass out of the cupboards. Zeke did so and placed it in front of Clarke. She raised her eyebrow at him but he just winked and turned back to clean some of the glasses that were already in the sink.

“Do I get an answer, Miller?” she questioned curiously.

Miller just held up his hand before he stopped shaking the metal cup and poured liquid inside of the glass Zeke placed in front of her.

“That’s a cocktail, Clarke. Taste it, you’ll like it.”

She crooked her head to the side, trying to figure out if he was playing with her, but he just nodded with a light smirk plastered on his face and started making another one.

“Drink it.” Clarke spun her head to Sasha who held up her own glass. “Just do it, Clarke. It won’t hurt you. It’s good.”

The blonde sighed but used the straw in her glass to drink the liquid inside of it. She took a few sips before she let go of the straw and sat up correctly again. Clarke could feel Sasha’s gaze on her, the same time Miller stopped getting a drink ready and turned his attention to her. And as much as she wanted to say that it didn’t taste good, it was fucking delicious. She rolled her eyes and picked up the glass.

“Fine, it’s good, Miller. You did a great job.” she admitted.

“I told you. Try out new things, Clarke. I know that you like clinging onto old things.” Miller replied as he winked.

Clarke groaned but couldn’t stop herself from smiling anyway. She wasn’t quite sure what exactly her friend meant by this but there were a few things running through her mind. Still, it wasn’t the time for all these thoughts; her birthday would be here in a few hours and she didn’t drink a lot yet. That didn’t add up with her plan of getting wasted and that was something she wanted to change.

“Where did you learn to make cocktails?” she asked Miller before taking a sip from hers again.

Her friend gave Zeke another glass filled with liquid then faced Clarke again.

“I worked in a bar for two years. My boss always needed someone to mix drinks or to make the cocktails but none of my coworkers were able to do it. He wanted everyone to show him how we were able to make them and whoever wasn’t able to, got fired. The best part is, he never told us when we would have to show it to him, so I just started doing it at home. And as you can see, I’m pretty good at it, so I didn’t get fired.”

“Damn, should’ve stayed there.” Clarke replied grinning.

Miller just shook his head and handed Sasha another one at the same time.

“I’m a police officer now. Risky, but more cash.”

Clarke smiled and took a sip from her cocktail as someone pressed their chest against the half of her back.

“Look who showed up,” Zeke said with a smile on his face.

Even though Clarke wanted to turn her head to the side, she didn’t. There weren’t a lot of people that would get this close to her, especially not a guy, so she had someone in mind. But on the other hand, there was another person who constantly looked in her direction and sent her a smile from across the room. She had only been able to avoid that person, because she always fled to another room or started a conversation with someone else. Yet, Zeke smiled at the person behind her, so she guessed she was right.

“Missed me?” Bellamy said as he sat down on the free stool next to her, taking away the warmth of his chest against her back.

“Always, Blake.” Miller replied. “What can I do for you?”

Bellamy laughed and waved their friend off. “Just give me a beer, bartender.”

“Will do so!” Miller said before he turned around and walked over to the fridge.

Clarke thought it was her chance to open a conversation with Bellamy now and turned sideways, now facing him, but Zeke was standing in front of him and they began talking. She wanted to groan but didn’t. There would be other opportunities for her to talk with him, so she wouldn’t be mad about it. Instead, the way she was sitting on her bar stool right now gave her the opportunity to check him out. She started with his face.

Bellamy wasn’t wearing his glasses today which she thought was the right call for his overall look. His hair was falling into his eyes a little bit but it didn’t seem to bother him at the moment. She knew that he spent a lot of his day outside, so it wasn’t surprising that his freckles were more visible than usual. Clarke wanted to scoot closer and count each one of them, but instead of doing so, she swept her eyes further down to his torso. He was wearing his tan shirt again, which fit perfectly to his skin tone, combined with his black cargo pants. It was one of her two favourite looks on him, the other one was with less clothes and for her only.

Clarke laughed slightly because of her own thought, causing Zeke and Bellamy to stop their conversation. The latter turned around to her, legs spread open a little bit and sent her a quizzed look, yet he had a light smile on his face.

“What’s so funny, princess?”

The blonde jumped off her stool and took some steps closer, jabbing her finger in his chest.

“I told you to not call me like that.” she uttered.

Bellamy snorted. “No, you asked if I’ll keep calling you like that, not that I should stop. And the last time I used it, you didn’t seem to mind, so.”

Clarke rolled her eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest. “That’s because you didn’t give me a chance to tell you _the last time._ ”

Now, that smug smirk that she always wanted to slap off his face made its way back to his lips. The difference between past and present, was that she now wanted to kiss it off his face. But she wouldn’t do that, for various reasons.

Bellamy grabbed his beer, that Miller had probably placed in front of him while she kept staring at him, and stood up. Of course he got up, he wanted to intimidate her, forcing her to look up at him and that’s what she did. But Clarke wouldn’t let him win again, whatever this was anyway, so she tilted her head to the side and smiled provokingly at him. Bellamy raised one of his brows while looking down at her, smirk still on his lips.

Both of them kept their mouths shut, waiting for the other to make the first step and say something next. But Clarke didn’t have anything to add. She told him already how things were. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have the chance to tell Bellamy to stop calling her that when they were at the beach. Sure, he had called her princess before and… okay, she didn’t really have an excuse. It was a weak argument and she was sure that Bellamy knew that, too, but he was just as competitive as her, so he wouldn’t say anything either.

It could’ve went like this for hours, Clarke was sure, but at one point Sasha tapped her shoulder and she knew she had to face her friend. She chewed on her lip for a while, not ready to let the opportunity of winning slip out of her hands, but when Sasha tapped her shoulder again, she breathed out and turned around to her friend.

“Sorry, but Raven asked if we want to join her and the other girls in the make up room in an hour.” the girl explained.

Clarke sighed but nodded. It wasn’t like she hated that idea, but she hated losing, especially against a guy named Bellamy Blake. Whatever he was able to do to her, she would never accept the fact that she lost not only once or twice, but more often against him. And therefore she hated him.

“Sure, we can meet them there.” she replied with a smile on her face.

Sasha returned it and got off her stool. “Alright, I’m going to tell her. I’ll be right back.” she said, before leaving Clarke alone.

The blonde closed her eyes for a second, preparing herself for the fucking smirk that she would see on Bellamy’s face in a few seconds, then turned around but he wasn’t there. The only people close to her right now were Zeke and Miller and the both of them were occupied making drinks. Clarke rolled her eyes but smiled anyway while she grabbed her glass again. Just before she brought the straw to her lips, she noticed a napkin next to where it sat a few seconds ago. She frowned, not remembering it lying there earlier, so she let go of her straw and lifted the napkin. There was a little note on it which said _‘meet me outside, princess’_ and it made her smile even more, but also caused her to shake her head. Such an idiot.

Clarke placed her drink back on the island before she turned around and swept her eyes through the living room. From where she was standing, she could see that all of her friends were having fun and that was everything she wanted. They knew that she didn’t want the party to be just for her but for them too. Sure, it was her birthday and that was the real reason why they were celebrating. but then again, she never wanted to get all the attention and right now she didn’t. So, she made her way out to the garden area of the mansion and closed the sliding door behind her.

The blonde had no idea where to look for Bellamy first but knew that it probably wouldn’t take her long to find him. There were only a few spots for sitting outside anyway, so it wouldn’t be that hard.

She took a few steps forward on the terrace and turned her head to the right, looking at the couch area, but he wasn’t there. And looking to the left didn’t help either, since he wasn’t sitting on the table. She groaned. She should’ve known that he wouldn’t make it easy for her.

Clarke started walking to the four poster bed they had once laid on. She didn’t even want to think about that day because it always reminded her of what Finn did to Raven and her. Sometimes, she still felt the urge to throw up whenever it crossed her mind again. She shook her head and kept walking through the garden. The music from the inside of the house got quieter with every step she took. At one point Clarke wasn’t even sure if she took the right way to the four poster bed and wanted to turn around again, but then someone grabbed her by the wrist and turned her around.

“What-”

Bellamy covered her mouth with his free hand. Clarke didn’t know why he was doing this so she frowned at him. He shook his head and took his hand off her mouth, motioning her to stay silent. Although she didn’t understand why, she nodded. Whatever was going on seemed to be a secret and she didn’t want to do something that could blow up the situation. So when Bellamy grabbed her hand and pulled her with him, she just stayed quiet like he told her.

Clarke had no clue where exactly they were going, but the music was now no longer in hearing range. Instead, something else was; moans.

The blonde pulled Bellamy back, making him stop walking any further. She frowned again, shaking her head lightly to show him that whatever he was planning to do wasn’t right. But he just rolled her eyes and mouthed something at her. It confused her even more because she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to tell her. Apparently, that didn’t make it better since he rolled his eyes again.

The next time Bellamy pulled her with him, she just let it be. There was no way she would understand what he wanted to tell her and show her without going to the place where the moans came from. It was a female voice, that was for sure. Still, it didn’t tell her anything until Bellamy stopped in front of a bush.

Clarke turned her face around to Bellamy. He pointed at a spot in the bush but didn’t say anything else. The little smirk on his face that she was able to see due to the light that came from behind the bush was enough for her to understand what that meant. She breathed out one last time before she pulled some leaves away from each other and stuck her head through them. The moment she did so, she had to bite her lip to stop herself from screaming. She almost fell inside the bush, but Bellamy grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back against him, keeping her from falling. However, he wasn’t able to distract her from what she was seeing in front of her.

Roan was lying on a blanket on one of the loungers that usually were on the terrace, naked. On top of him was Raven, riding him. This was the only time Clarke had seen her friend without a ponytail, hair falling free, but she still couldn’t believe that she was seeing this right now. It seemed like she missed a lot of things, since they were actually fucking on a chair outside while there was a party going on. Clarke really had to laugh. She didn’t know that Raven was into Roan or that he was into her friend. But then again, they already kissed that one night when they came up with their group name, so it shouldn’t be that surprising, but damn. This was really happening.

When Raven leaned forward and placed her hands on Roan’s shoulder, Clarke knew she saw enough. She pulled her head out of the bush again and got up. Only then she noticed that Bellamy’s hands were still on her hips and that she was now pressed against his chest with her back. She wasn’t sure if he planned this, if he wanted her to see and hear her friends, so she could get turned on, but it didn’t matter the moment she could feel his lips against her ear.

“You’re not really inconspicuous with staring at me, Clarke.”

Well, fuck. She didn’t expect this. She didn’t expect it to sound like that. Clarke knew that Bellamy’s voice was pretty deep and raspy, but now it was actually making her shiver. She had no idea what she should answer to that, if he even decided to wait for her to say something, but then again, she needed to defend herself.

“Never said I was trying to be.”

“No?”

“No.”

“That’s unfortunate. This won’t end good for you, you know that?” he questioned, still whispering inside her ear.

Clarke wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but if she had to be honest, she had something in mind. Not a concrete thought, but she knew in which direction this situation would lead to. She didn’t know if this was the right place and time to do anything, but the alcohol in her body was already messing with her mind and led to her thinking irrationally. Because of that, she turned around, now facing Bellamy and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in to kiss him, but he pushed her back.

Her jaw dropped open and she frowned. Did he really just refuse to kiss her? Bellamy refused to kiss her. This had to be a joke, right? When did he ever do that with his own will? Jesus, now she wanted him and he wasn’t willing to let her kiss him.

She hit his arm and shoved him back a bit, trying to show him with actions that she was kind of pissed at him. But even if she was, it was still Bellamy and she couldn’t be that mad at him for long, yet she could try to be.

Bellamy grabbed her hips again and turned her around, pressing her back against his chest for a second time. Clarke wanted to break free and push him away again but she knew that it would end up in a fight and reveal them watching Raven and Roan fuck. So she just kept still.

“You know…” Bellamy started, murmuring into her ear again. “Just because it’s your birthday, that doesn’t mean you get everything you want…”

Clarke closed her eyes and tried to calm down but that wasn’t as helpful as she thought. Especially not with him keeping whispering things in her ear with that fucking voice of his.

“Think of something that would make me let you kiss me and we’ll talk again.” With that, Bellamy let go of her and walked away.

Clarke didn’t. She was still in shock of what she had seen and what just happened. She didn’t expect this night to turn out this way. She never would’ve guessed that. But as much as she wanted to hate this birthday, she liked it. All of it. How she got to know more about Miller, Raven having sex with Roan which made her feel good for her friend, Bellamy and his usual teasing.

Actually, that shouldn’t surprise her considering the fact that they are her friends. She should’ve guessed that her birthday party would end up crazy and just like how _La Familia_ was.

She opened her eyes again and breathed out before she quietly made her way back to the inside of the mansion. It was time to get wasted.

# # # # # # # # # # 

11.10 pm.

Clarke slammed her glass on the table before she leaned back in her chair and threw a beauty sponge at Maya.

“It’s your turn, sweetie.” she slurred at her, giggling at the same time.

She was drunk. Very drunk.

The girls and her were currently in their make up room. The table in the middle of it was full of different bottles of various types of alcohol and their beauty products. They placed chairs around it and were now sitting in a circle. Clarke in between Sasha and Emori with Maya three spots away from her. The girl just shook her head and reached for her own glass and sipped on it before she placed it back on the table.

“There isn’t much to tell you guys, seriously.” she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Bullshit!” Raven called now slamming her own glass on the table. “Maya, who are you fucking.”

It wasn’t a question and that’s what caused Clarke to laugh. She didn’t even know why and noticing the look on Octavia’s face showed her that it wasn’t funny at all. But her friend just joined her and soon after everyone was laughing, including Maya.

Harper was the first one to get her shit back together and rose from her chair to go around, pouring whisky into everyone’s glasses. After that, she sat back down and each one of them raised them as they said ‘salute’, taking sips of their drinks. Clarke put her glass down after that and placed her arms on the table, leaning forward in Maya’s direction.

“Speak, woman.” she demanded.

Maya tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat before she started speaking.

“Well, you guys know that Wells and I keep picking each other at the ceremonies… we talk a lot, actually. I don’t know. He’s nice. He could be my match.”

“Ugh,” Emori said before she downed her drink. “He’s too cute for my liking, but then again you’re cute, too. Yeah, you guys fit. When will you jump him?”

Clarke snorted and leaned back against her chair. That was the Emori she missed, always coming up with the sex talk. Sometimes she wished she could tell her friend about how she fucked Bellamy multiple times and was not done with doing it, but she would keep her arrangement with him to herself. She didn’t know for how long she could, but she would try.

“I don’t plan on sleeping with him, Emori.” Maya said quietly. Clarke hoped that she would let loose in a more drunken state, and she somehow did. She was talking about sex after all, but it was still Maya. She was still shy and kept her voice down. Clarke should’ve known.

“How not? You’re missing out, my friend.” Emori continued, making Octavia let out a snicker. “What? Do you fuck your bodybuilder?”

“Geez, Emori, he’s not a bodybuilder. But yes I do and he’s good.” Octavia said before she raised her glass up in the air and took a sip.

“Don’t say that in front of Bellamy, cutie, he’ll cut off Lincoln’s dick.” Harper said as she giggled. Octavia only rolled her eyes and groaned in response, yet a smile on her face.

“He has other things to deal with anyway.”

“Okay, but,” Sasha said, leaning over the table as she reached for orange juice and vodka. “Your brother _is_ hot.”

Octavia snorted. “Of course he is. He’s a Blake, what do you expect? But wait, don’t bite him. I do believe he gets daily ones already.”

Clarke sat up correctly, fearing that her friend would tell the rest of their group that Bellamy and her fucked the first week, but Octavia just winked at her and continued speaking before anyone else could bombard her with questions.

“ _Don’t_ ask me if I know who it is. I don’t, but I know Bellamy. He probably has his fun sometimes.”

“Mhm,” Raven replied as she tilted her head to the side, grin on her face. “I fucked Roan earlier today.”

For a second Clarke was surprised that Raven just said that out freely, but then again, they were drunk and there was no need for her to be ashamed either. Sure, it didn’t make sense that they fucked outside instead of in the Boom Boom room, but then again, she could kind of understand. She wouldn’t want to have sex with Bellamy there either, knowing that others perhaps did it in there, too.

Clarke raised her eyebrow at her friend, acting surprised by what her friend just said.

“So when did this happen?” she asked curiously.

Raven laughed and got up before she sat down on the table. “Well, Roan is hot, that’s no secret, and I just wanted to fuck him after I found him sleeping naked one time.”

“He sleeps naked!?” Harper asked, slamming her glass on the table.

“Hell yes he does. God, I can still feel his dick inside me.” Raven added.

“Me literally every time I had sex with B…” Clarke spoke into her glass, but it didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

Emori almost fell off her chair while every pair of eyes was directed toward Clarke. She just swept her eyes between her friends, thinking of what she just said.

“Who, Clarke? Sex with who?” Harper screamed, snapping her fingers at her.

Clarke just waved her off and placed her glass on the table. “It’s not important, I-”

“You’re a dumbo if you think it’s not important. Oh my God, you had sex. You had sex with someone in this house. Shut up, I need to process this.” Emori slurred as she sat back on her chair correctly.

Clarke just laughed and shook her head. “No, seriously, it’s not that important. But, I want to do something.”

Raven raised her brow at her. “Suck a dick?”

“Cut my hair.”

Emori jumped off her chair and went to one of her bags. Clarke got up too and followed her. She had no idea what she was doing, but she knew that she wanted to get rid of her boring look. She didn’t decide what hairstyle she wanted to go with, but she would figure something out.

“You’re lucky today, Clarke. Your friend was a hair stylist for three years so I won’t fuck your hair up.” Emori said.

“We’re really doing this?” Maya asked but got up from her chair as well and made her way over to them, too.

Clarke nodded heavily. “Fucking do it.”

“How short?” Raven added as she pushed a chair in front of the mirror.

“I don’t know. Short. Just cut it off.” Clarke replied as she sat down on it.

“This is going to be the best night of my life. Hold my glass.” Octavia said to Sasha. The other girl grabbed it before Octavia made her way over to Clarke. She placed her hand on her shoulder and squeezed it for a second before she jumped onto the window still.

Clarke turned her face from Emori, who was still fumbling around in one of her bags, to the mirror and brought her hair to the front. She would do it. There was no way out of this anymore. She would let Emori cut her hair above her shoulders. That’s what she wanted.

The blonde turned her head slightly as she continued looking at her face and hair. Short wouldn’t be enough. Sure, she was annoyed by the blonde, but she wouldn’t change her hair colour. That would be too much. But bangs? No, bangs would be ugly, but she wanted some strands that stood out. See through bangs?

Clarke turned her head back to the front and used a scrunchy to pull her hair back. She left some strands out and tried to get her hair similar to how it would be still be see through. It didn’t look bad, actually she really liked it. And if she would leave her hair down, it wouldn’t even be in her face. See through bangs… parted? Yes. That’s what she wanted.

She turned her head to Emori who finally made her way towards her and placed her bag on the table.

“I’m drunk, Clarke.” Emori said as she took out some scissors.

“I’m drunk, too. Do it.”  she told her.

Emori nodded and took the scrunchy out of her hair. She grabbed a brush and brushed her hair first. Clarke started to panic. She wanted this, she really did, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of it. It did look good when she just tried it out, but it wasn’t the reality. She was scared that it would look horrible in the end, yet she trusted Emori, even if her friend was drunk and she definitely was, too. She wouldn’t change her mind again.

Her friend placed the brush on the table and held her hand up against her shoulder.

“Here?”

Clarke shook her head. Emori went a bit further up, but she shook her head again.

“Jesus, Clarke.” Raven said before she sat down in front of the mirror and leaned against it. “I’ll have to drink that whole bottle of whisky to be ready for this.”  
  
“Ask myself.” Clarke said, grinning a bit. She didn’t even know what was going through her mind right now, but when Emori held up her hand at the right length, she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, what else do you want. A simple cut?” her friend asked her.

Clarke shook her head. “No, see through bangs that are parted. Kinda.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Octavia said as she sat down on the floor next to Raven.

Emori just smirked and grabbed a magazine out of her bag. “I know what she means.” She went through the magazine pretty fast and leaned down next to Clarke when she found what she was looking for. When Emori showed her the picture, she nodded heavily. “You can do all of these hairstyles with it. They won’t be visual if you keep your hair open. They’ll be on the sides.”

Clarke nodded again. “I want it.”

“Give me the magazine!” Octavia yelled at Emori who threw the magazine at her friends.

Clarke waited for them to say anything, but all of her friends gathered around the pictures that were in the magazine. She really wanted this, more than anything else in this moment, and she was ready.

Raven lifted her head and got up from where she was sitting to stand next to Clarke on the right side. She looked at her through the mirror and nodded, slightly, but Clarke was still able to do it. Her friend turned her face to Emori and pointed at her.

“Do it. Give her the damn look so she gets fucked tonight. There’s no way she’s going to cut her hair like this without getting banged later. Do it. We’ll get her hair a bit wavy after that. Do. It.”

Emori smirked at Raven then looked at Clarke through the mirror again. Since Raven approved, she knew it was the right thing to do and she had no doubt that she wouldn’t get fucked tonight. If she would change her look now and keep the outfit she’s still wearing, Bellamy would probably try to fuck her the minute he would see her.

Clarke pressed her thighs together. There was no time for having such thoughts now.

“Do it.” she told Emori.

“Alright ladies, here we go.”

And she did it. Emori started cutting her hair at the exact spot Clarke had shown her. She was able to see her hair falling down on the floor in the mirror across from her. And with every cut her friend made, she got more excited. She already started to feel better, seeing how her hair fell down and the feeling of freedom from her shoulders. Her hair wouldn’t annoy her anymore, she wouldn’t have to deal with long hair everywhere. It would be short. Cute or hot, whatever she decided, her look would work for the day.

“Fuck, this already looks good. I’m going to be bisexual for you.” Sasha said before she sat down cross-legged next to Octavia.

Clarke smirked lightly and raised her hand, ready to touch the already cut side but Raven slapped her hand away.

“Don’t. You’re going to distract Emori.”

“I’m thinking of Murphy while cutting her hair, I guess I’m distracting myself already. It’s fine.”

Clarke stuck her tongue out at Raven, whereupon the brunette just rolled her eyes. She didn’t think that tonight would be so full of occasions, but here she was, cutting her hair off before her birthday was here. She would go into a new age with new friends, a new look, and hopefully great sex, but that wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

“Alright.” Emori said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She lifted her gaze and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was short. Fucking short but she looked good. She looked hot. Fuck, she made the right call with this.

She turned her head to the side, looking at Emori.

“Thanks.”

Emori just snorted and turned her head back to the front before she walked over and stopped in front of her. “You know we’re not done yet. Imma give you your bangs now. Ready?”

“Just do it, Em. I can’t wait anymore!” Octavia yelled as she got up and went to stand next to Raven. 

Apparently, Clarke wasn’t the only one who was excited to see the finale look. She was a bit impatient too, but then again she knew that stressing her friend wouldn’t be good either, so she just let her do her thing. She worked as a hair stylist for three years though, she knew what she was doing.

“Okay, hang up a blanket in front of the mirror.” Emori told Octavia. The other girl nodded before Emori turned around to Maya and pointed to her second bag. “There’s a straightener in it. Turn it on. It’s better to get her some waves with it than with a curler.”

Clarke could see Maya nod through the mirror. Emori grabbed her scissors again but waited for Octavia to come back with a blanket. Clarke knew that this was the part where her real anxiety kicked in. She wasn’t sure if what she was going to do now would actually look good, but she prayed that it would.

When Octavia came back, she almost tripped over due to all the alcohol in her system but caught herself before the downfall and hung up the blanket. Usually, each one of them would’ve laughed at that, but everyone was so tense for Clarke’s new hairstyle and she would be lying if she wasn’t too.

“Here we go, babe, there’s no way back. You sure you want this?” Emori asked her.

Clarke nodded. “Do it.”

That was everything her friend needed before she started working on her see through bangs. She really wanted it to look like the way it did in the magazine and she was counting on Emori. She knew that her friend never would’ve agreed to do that in a drunken state if she wasn’t sure that she would be able to give her a nice haircut. She just hoped that she wouldn’t regret it in the end. The short hair did look amazing on her and she felt like a new human being, but it wasn’t the end of the haircut, and she could only sit and wait to find out if it would look good.

“Guys, it’s almost 11.45 pm. just so you know.” Sasha told all of them.

Raven nodded. “We’re going to make it, no worries.”

“Yeah, I’m a pro. I can be drunk and work well, so don’t worry. I’ll be done in five, then we shake her hair a bit and she’s done.”

“How do I look right now?” Clarke asked, still feeling anxious about it all.

Octavia just laughed. “That’s not describable right now.”  
  
“Great.”

“Stop worrying, Clarke.” Emori said in front of her. “You’re going to look like a badass. A cute badass.”

Clarke snorted but let it go. There wasn’t anything for her to do anymore at this point. She started this and she would finish it whether it looked bad or not. The worst thing that could happen for her was for it to turn out askew and not correctly done, but she trusted her friend. She didn’t even know why she was freaking out that much. It could be the alcohol. Yeah, it was probably the alcohol.

Emori took a few steps back and placed the scissors on the table. Clarke used that moment to look on the floor and was a bit shocked by how much hair her friend cut off. But then again, she knew that her hair was long before so she relaxed again and waited for Emori’s next move.

Her friend motioned Maya to give her the straightener.

“Alright, Clarke. You’ll be done in three minutes. Are you still able to wait that long?” Emori asked her.

Clarke scoffed and raised one of her brows at her. “I was able to sit on this chair long enough, I think I can wait some minutes.”

Emori nodded with a grin on her face before she started working on her hair again.

“I’ll give you a hairstyle that fits to your outfit.”

“Okay.”

From then on, it was silent. Everyone kept their mouth shut and looked at what Emori was doing to her hair and Clarke thought it was unfair. They all could see the process while her favourite hair stylist was standing in front of her, blocking her view with her body and a blanket in front of the mirror. She wanted to roll her eyes and tell them that she wouldn’t glimpse into the mirror but she would only lie to herself. Because she knew that she would.

Clarke swept her eyes around but she couldn’t see much except for some hair falling next to her eyes. God, she was so excited. She just wanted to see the result now, she couldn’t take it anymore and luckily, Emori stepped away and tucked the straightener out of the socket.

All of her friends gathered around her while Emori packed everything in her bag again and placed the straightener on the window still.

“I’m just saying… If no one fucks you tonight then you should leave the show.” Harper commented before she took a bite of her chocolate bar.

Clarke raised her eyebrow, kind of perplex that this was really Harper’s reaction. But by taking a look at the rest of her friends, they all seemed to like the result and agree to the other blondes’ words. She turned her head to Maya. She knew that she wasn’t that type of person who spoke a lot about sex, so she wanted to know to know from her if she saw it the same way.

“What do you say about that?”

Maya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear again and smiled at Clarke. “You look really good. And if I’m being honest… Harper is right.”

Clarke got off the chair and pushed her friends out of the way before she stopped in front of the mirror. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for disappointment, but she knew that her friends wouldn’t lie to her, especially not in a drunken state, so she just ripped the blanket off the mirror. And there she was.

Fuck. Clarke was so fixed on being cute on her date with Bellamy, but it didn’t end up in the way she meant it. And it definitely wasn’t like that now. The hairstyle Emori gave her did look cute, in a way, but it was hot, too. Especially with what she was wearing. Her hair was wavy, but not too much, just the right amount. Her curtain bangs were parted in the middle, just like she wanted, and were on the sides, so it didn’t really look that much like real bangs. But fuck. It just looked good and she definitely loved her new hair.

Clarke turned around to her friends and couldn’t help but grin at all of them.  
  
“She likes it.” Raven said as she brought her glass to her lips.

“No. She fucking loves it.” Octavia corrected and Clarke only nodded before she made her way to Emori and hugged her.

“Thank you so much. You did an amazing job.”

Emori laughed and hugged her back. “Everything for my drunk friend.”

Clarke scoffed and let go of her before she turned to Sasha. She tilted her chin at her friend.

“What time is it?” she asked her.

Sasha looked at the watch that was wrapped around her arm and raised her head a second later.

“It’s now 11.50. pm. So we gotta go.”

That was everything they needed to know. All of them grabbed their glasses and some alcohol they wanted to bring downstairs with them. Clarke was one of the last ones to leave the make up room. Octavia was behind her and also the one who turned off the light. She waited for her while everyone made their way downstairs already. When Octavia pulled the door closed, she turned to Clarke and smirked lightly at her.

“So, are you going to fuck my brother then?” she questioned.

Clarke’s eyes widened for a bit. She didn’t expect the younger one to talk about it that openly. But remembering that she had the chance to tell all of their friends about it and considering the fact that she did agree to her getting hit tonight, made her understand a bit. Also, she could imagine that Octavia didn’t want Bellamy to jump from girl to girl too, so it just made sense.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders and started walking towards the stairs.

“I don’t know if he’s willing to.” she answered honestly.

“Gross.”

Clarke laughed a bit and was ready to take the start her descent down the stairs but then Octavia grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She didn’t know what that meant and the fact that her friend was looking at her all serious didn’t make it better. Was this the moment where she would tell her to not fuck it up with Bellamy? Or why exactly was this happening right now?

Octavia turned her around and nodded to Miller and Zeke who were walking inside the camera room. Clarke frowned, not quite understanding what she wanted to show her.

The younger one stepped next to her and waited until they closed the door behind them to speak.

“You didn’t see him and he didn’t see you, but Bellamy walked with them into the room. If you want him to show your new look now, wait for him. I’ll tell the others that you’re in the bathroom.”

Clarke turned on her heels, wanted to face Octavia and ask her why she was doing this, but the brunette already made her way downstairs, holding herself on the wall next to the stairs. God, only by seeing this, she knew that her friends weren’t the only ones who were this drunk. She did drink as much as them, so she probably would be behaving the same way.

And because there wasn’t anything to lose, she walked over to the camera room and stopped a few steps in front of it. She wouldn’t go in there now and disturb them by whatever they wanted to tell the viewers. So she stayed outside…

For fifteen seconds. Then she just grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open before she walked inside, fixing her gaze on Bellamy immediately. Just like he did. And she could feel him checking her out. He probably did that today already but he did it again, this time more intensely. From head to toe, back up to her hair. She could see his eyes sweeping around her face for a few seconds before he leaned back against the back of the couch and rested his arm on the armrest, smirk growing on his lips.

Bellamy liked it. She knew he did by how he changed his position and facial expression. He loved it and by taking a look in his eyes, she noticed that he was ready for it. His eyes did darken already. And instead of breaking the contact, the whole thing turned into eye fucking. She knew it. He knew it. And when she heard Miller let out a chuckle, she knew that he knew what they would be doing in a few minutes.

Clarke turned her head to Miller and Zeke who were getting up from the couch and as much as they tried to hide their grins and how they were definitely not drunk, she was still able to notice it all.

 _“You look great, Clarke.”_ Zeke said grinning as he made his way towards the door.

“Oh yes, indeed.” Miller added, following Zeke.

 _“Thanks guys.”_ was everything Clarke replied before Miller sent her a wink before he left the room with Zeke, closing the door behind him.

Now it was only Bellamy and her.

Clarke reminded herself of what happened back in the garden and surprisingly, she thought of not making it that easy and just fall on him. So instead, she just made her way to the couch, walking as best as she could in her state and sat down on it correctly.

Bellamy turned his head to her but she just kept looking into the camera for a second. She never was in here before and didn’t send any message to the viewers. She tilted her head to the side thinking of what she could say before she turned her head to Bellamy who was still positioned like before.

He smirked a little and swept his eyes up and down her for a brief moment again.

 _“You took what I said serious, huh?”_ Bellamy said as he lifted his hand to play with one of her few strands of hair.

Clarke scoffed and turned her head back to the front. _“Tell that yourself.”_

_“So you didn’t cut your hair because of me is what you say?”_

She turned her head back to him and shrugged her shoulders before she scooted closer and leaned back against his arm, still facing him.

 _“Yes, Bellamy. That’s what I’m saying.”_ she replied, emphasising his name as she did so.

He raised his eyebrow at her and let go off her hair only to run his hand through his own.

 _“You wanna kill me with this new look?”_ Bellamy asked her while crooking his chin at her.

Clarke skewed her head to the side and checked him out again, biting her lip at the same time. She wasn’t trying to be subtle, not at all, she wanted him to see what she was doing. And feel. So she started playing with the hem of his shirt, pulling him a bit closer to her as she kept holding eye contact.

 _“Maybe. But it’s only fair to what you’re doing to me.”_ she responded in a flirtatious manner, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Bellamy.

His smirk just grew wider as she pulled him closer until their faces weren’t that far away from each other. God, she was drunk. She would never throw herself at someone like that, but then again it was Bellamy. Perhaps she would do that, but only on him. The good thing about this situation was that Bellamy seemed to be drunk, too, an excuse Clarke would use the next morning, for sure. But right now, she didn’t have an excuse for not making out with him. Sure, her friends were downstairs, probably waiting for her to get on the first floor, but Miller and Zeke weren’t blind. They knew she wouldn’t be coming down in a few and she would take that opportunity for granted. Apparently, Bellamy didn’t see that any different.

 _“A bad birthday princess.”_ he said before he leaned in to kiss her but she pushed his face away with her free hand and got up. He sent her a quizzed look, confused by what she was doing, but there was no time for playing big games.

So Clarke stepped in front of him and spread his legs open before she stepped forward to stand in between them.

 _“Wrong. I’m your bad birthday princess.”_ she replied as she grabbed the end of her skirt, ready to hike it up but Bellamy placed his hands on top of hers, stopping her from doing so.

Now Clarke was the one with an irritated look on her face. They were already flirting heavily, she was horny and drunk, ready to have sex but he stopped her, _again_.

But when Bellamy shoved her a bit back and stood up to turn off the camera and even turned it around, she understood. God, she drank so much alcohol that she almost showed her ass to the viewers. It wasn’t even that funny but she could still hear herself giggling. Yeah, definitely drunk.

Bellamy sat down on the couch and made her stand in between his legs again as he looked up to her. She met his gaze and bit her lip on purpose before she hiked up her skirt and left it on her hips. She then straddled him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She didn’t even know if Bellamy liked it when she was on top, perhaps he did, but then again it wasn’t like she wanted to have sex immediately, so things could still change.

Clarke tilted her head to the side and smiled provokingly, whereupon he just smirked. That was enough for her to know that he wouldn’t stop her from kissing him this time, so she leaned forward and did it. Placed her lips on top of his and kissed him. She had no idea why she did it softly at first, considering the fact that she wanted to go wild and luckily, Bellamy thought so, too because he was the one who turned it into a French kiss and who pulled her roughly against him. God, Clarke loved it when he did that and by the way they kept making out sloppily, she knew where this would lead to.

She would get the birthday sex she deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry, i would never keep that smut away from you, so stay tuned for the next chapter... it's a lot. 
> 
> BUT, here's a link to clarke's current hairstyle and you can also find the outfits that the girls were wearing at the matching ceremonies there! https://pin.it/22r7zxtkl3fthu 
> 
> as usual comments are appreciated, have a nice evening xo


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just... enjoy.

It was probably already past midnight but that didn’t change anything; not for Clarke nor for Bellamy. The blonde couldn’t care less at this point, especially after what almost happened in the camera room minutes ago. The reason why they were now out of it was because Clarke didn’t want anyone to walk in on them, since the room was used pretty often. She realized that only after she kneeled down in between Bellamy’s leg to be able to give him head. Before anything else could happen, they agreed to go to the bedroom.

Now, they found themselves in the hallway.

Clarke’s back hit the door, causing her to moan against Bellamy’s lips. She lifted her right leg and wrapped it around his waist, pulling him flat against her with the heel of her foot against his ass. One of his hands hit the wall next to her face and rested his palm on it while the other cupped one of Clarke’s breasts. Meanwhile, she slid her fingers through the end of his hair at the base of his neck, pulling on it whenever Bellamy used his thumb to tease her nipple through the fabric of her body.

The longer they kept making out against the wall, the messier the kiss, their movements, their hands trying to discover each other’s skin. Blood was running through Clarke’s ear, blocking out every sound around her except from the sounds they were making.

When Bellamy let go of the wall and wrapped his arm around the small of her back, Clarke used that for herself and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. They both groaned when she rubbed herself against Bellamy’s dick one time, but the fabric between them started making the blonde aggressive. It was irritating. She wanted it gone.

Although, he just picked her up, she jumped off him again. Clarke didn’t want to break the kiss and she knew that Bellamy didn’t want to do that, either, but as soon as she heard someone say her name aloud, just enough so she was able to hear it, they broke apart.

Bellamy took a few steps back and turned sideways as he raked his fingers through his hair. Meanwhile, Clarke tried to catch her breath, but turned her face to the direction of the stairs. She tilted her head to the side and frowned a bit when she saw the expression the person coming from downstairs had on their face. It was confusing her in some kind of way she couldn’t explain, yet, she couldn’t even think much about it, because Bellamy already confronted the other participant.

“Never had something quite similar to that, Finn? Or why you looking?”

Clarke giggled. She didn’t know why, but she giggled. It wasn’t even that funny, it was rather sad, actually. For Finn of course. But the fact that Bellamy didn’t even try to be nice or hide the fact that they were about to have sex made her laugh. On any other day, she would’ve grabbed his forearm to just pull him inside the bedroom with her, but she was drunk, and drunk Clarke thought that it was both funny and hot. So, she didn’t get in between their conversation and kept her mouth shut.

Finn shook his head lightly and took a few steps closer to them, sweeping his eyes from Bellamy to Clarke, fixing them on her.

“Is everything okay, Clarke? Is he trying to hurt you? If you don’t want this, I can bring you downstairs to your friends.” Finn suggested.

Bellamy just snorted and got closer to Clarke again. Just by taking a look at him, she had to press her thighs together. She wasn’t sure if it was because of his cocky self, or because of what was running through his mind while walking towards her, _or_ because of the things that were running through _her_ mind. God, Finn had to leave soon or she would just drop on her knees and suck Bellamy off in front of him.

Clarke followed their interaction, seeing how Bellamy turned his face back to Finn, now crooking his head to the side.

“Does it look like she doesn’t want this?” he asked him.

Finn looked between him and her again before he shook his head. “I don’t think she wants this.”

“I want his dick.” Clarke said confidently.

Both of them turned their heads around to her. Finn was shocked about her statement while Bellamy only had that smug smirk plastered on his face. He turned his head back to Finn again and folded his arms in front of his chest.

“She wants my dick.” Bellamy repeated.

Finn furrowed his brows as he pulled his head back. For Clarke, that meant the conversation was over, so she turned around and placed her hand on the door handle. She pulled the door open, squeaking and getting on her tiptoes when Bellamy slapped her ass and squeezed it afterwards. Clarke could hear Finn say something under his breath, but she didn’t care. All that mattered to her was the fact that she would get her birthday sex and she planned on going wild.

As soon as they were inside their bedroom, Bellamy picked her up again and walked over to their bed. Again, it wasn’t hilarious at all, yet she had to giggle.

“You find that funny, huh?” Bellamy asked her on the way to the back of the room.

The blonde shook her head and stopped laughing, turning serious.

“You were pretty cocky out there.”

Bellamy threw her on the bed, making her bite her lower lip as she slid further to the headboard of the bed. He just stopped at the end of it and kept his gaze on her, sweeping his eyes from her feet up to her face, looking her in the eyes.

“I think you liked it, didn’t you?” he said, taking off his shirt after that in one swift movement.

Clarke knew she had to answer, she really did. But then again, he just started undressing in front of her and she couldn’t help but had to take a look at his toned abs first. He could wait. He definitely could, but she wouldn’t be able to wait any longer. Especially not when she caught him opening his belt slowly, but two people could play that game.

So, Clarke got up, standing on the bed before she took off her skirt and threw it on the floor. She then sat back down on the bed, back against the headboard and spread her legs open, just a little bit, so Bellamy had a great view in front of him, never breaking eye contact.

And even though there was only the moon that brought light into the room, she was able to see how his brown eyes darkened. She grinned to herself but tried to hide it by biting her lip again, yet she knew it didn’t work when she saw how a smirk made its way to his lips.

Clarke had enough of this game. They had no idea what time it was and how long it would take their friends to notice that they were missing. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen when some of their friends would enter the bedroom because they were too drunk to keep partying. She liked all the teasing and flirting, she really did, but things had to go fast from now on, so she motioned him to join her on the bed, using her index finger to do so.

Bellamy tilted his head to the side as he quirked one brow, grin growing wider again.

“Why would I do that?” he questioned, not leaving the end of the bed he was standing in front of.

Clarke knew that saying something to him wasn’t enough of a reason for him to make his way towards her and she definitely wouldn’t beg now either, although she wasn’t far away from doing so, but being completed wasted and horny at the same time made her come up with something she probably would’ve never done if she had been sober. She was almost sure that Bellamy didn’t care about that in both of his stages, drunk or not, so why would she care herself? He wouldn’t remember it anyway.

So, the blonde spread her legs apart a little more before she slid her hand down to her core, running her hand up and down the fabric of her panties.

Bellamy followed her hand with his eyes and that’s when she knew she had him. Clarke kept moving her hand, faster this time, and threw her head back against the headboard, moaning aloud. When she heard footsteps getting closer, she couldn’t help it but grin to herself. She should’ve known that this was the easiest and fastest way to get him to her.

Clarke turned her head to the side and looked up at Bellamy who had his gaze on her hand she was still rubbing herself with. She could see him lick his lips before he took her hand away and placed it on her own thigh. He then faced her, lust written in his eyes. She just bit her lip again and pressed her thighs together, looking right back into his own.

They didn’t say anything for a while and just kept eye fucking each other before Bellamy tilted his chin to her core.

“Take your panties off.” he demanded, and Clarke obeyed immediately.

She swung her legs off the side of the bed and got up, standing close in front of him. She raised her head a bit, so she didn’t have to break eye contact as she hooked her fingers at the wristband of her underwear and pushed them down to her ankles before she let them drop onto the floor, stepping out of them afterwards.

Bellamy took a step closer again, turning her around and pushing off the straps of her body. Clarke didn’t waste any time and got out of it too, making sure that her ass was brushing against his cock when she bent forward to remove them. She could hear him taking a sharp breath behind her and Clarke had to bite the inner side of her cheek to keep herself from laughing.

She let it fall onto the floor too and stepped out of it again but didn’t turn around. It wasn’t because she didn’t know what he wanted her to do next, to be honest she could imagine what, but she wanted to hear him say it. There was just something about his voice when he was drunk that made her shiver. She wanted him to be commanding, telling her what she had to do because it was fucking hot and thankfully, he kept doing so.

“Turn around. Sit on the edge of the bed and spread your legs for me, Clarke.”

She did as she was told and turned around, meeting his gaze again. He lifted one of his brows and cocked his head to the side. Clarke knew that he was waiting for her to sit down, but as much as she liked how things were going right now, she still didn’t want it to be easy for him. And for sure, she wouldn’t be naked while he was still wearing his pants.

So, she pulled on his belt and slowly took it out of the loops of his pants. His facial expression didn’t change a lot, he just started grinning again and Clarke was sure that she had him at this point. She let the belt fall on the floor before she continued with his button and the zipper, still keeping her movements slow; teasing wasn’t only for men after all.

Clarke pulled his pants down next, getting on her knees while doing so. She didn’t have the chance to suck his dick earlier and she still wanted to. Bellamy probably thought that this wasn’t the best idea, but it didn’t keep her from doing it anyway. He wouldn’t mind her doing it as soon as she would wrap her mouth around the head of his dick.

The blonde looked up at Bellamy through her lashes. She wasn’t surprised when he stepped out of his pants himself, that had been the reason why she met his gaze again anyway. He pulled her up afterwards and Clarke wanted to protest because the last time they had sex, he treated her good. She only gave him a blowjob once, whilst he always got her off by either eating her out or using his hands. It wasn’t like she hated it, God no, but she wanted to taste him again and she didn’t want him to be the one who always did most of the work.

But she couldn’t do anything about it. Not when he pushed her back on the bed and she had to place her hands behind her so she wouldn’t fall backwards, not if he was trying to be the dominating person between the both of them.

Clarke slid further to the middle of the bed, only to get pulled back to the edge of it by Bellamy. He shook his head before he undressed completely, now standing naked in front of her. Clarke had to start thinking why he was doing this to her, especially when he closed his hand around his length and begun stroking himself.

“Bellamy.” she said before she wet her lower lip with her tongue, keeping her eyes fixed on his shaft.

“Yeah.”

Clarke tried to tear her eyes away from his dick and was surprised by herself when she was actually able to. She probably wouldn’t remember all of this in the morning and if she would, then there were no chances of her not being embarrassed by what she was doing and saying now. But she couldn’t continue thinking about that, not when Bellamy stepped between her legs and she _really_ had to lift up her head so she was able to maintain the eye contact.

The blonde knew that she had to say something next. He wouldn’t do it, he was waiting for her, but there wasn’t much she wanted to tell him anyway. She didn’t want to talk at all. She just wanted his lips on her own and on every other part of her body. She needed him to explore her, slow or not, preferable slowly, and when that crossed her mind, she knew what she _actually_ wanted.

Clarke placed her hand on top of his and stopped him from stroking himself. Bellamy frowned slightly as he tilted his head to the side. She could imagine how irritating this had to be for him, but she was one hundred percent sure of what she needed right now. The lust of foreplay was gone and other things were running through her mind.

As soon as Clarke was sure that Bellamy wouldn’t start moving his hand again, she placed her own on his stomach and shoved him lightly away from her. She got up after that and turned around on her heels before she got under the blanket, lying down on her spine. The blonde faced Bellamy again who now was even more confused than before. She laughed slightly and took the covers away from her body.

“Join me.” she spoke out as softly as she could while smiling at him.

Bellamy was still irritated by all of this, but he took the few steps to the bed anyway and got under the blanket.

Clarke didn’t want to waste any more time, they already lost enough of it, so when Bellamy settled in, she took his face in her hands and turned it towards her, so she was able to kiss him again. At first, he didn’t kiss her back because remembering how things had been some seconds ago, it didn’t add up with how she was kissing him. He probably expected it to be as dirty and sloppy as before, but instead, it was rather slow and passionate. She almost thought that he wouldn’t get the message, that what had become everything she wished for, wasn’t what he wanted, but when he kissed her back in the exact same way and rolled on top of her, keeping himself up on his elbows, she knew that he was aware of what she wanted.

Bellamy hooked his arm under her knee before he wrapped it around his waist and pulled Clarke further down. She let go of his face and wrapped her arms around his neck instead, sliding her fingers through his hair like she usually did. It was no secret that Bellamy liked that. She knew that from the minute she took a closer look at him back on the airplane. Just by thinking of it, she had to smile and of course that didn’t go unnoticed by Bellamy.

He broke the kiss and slowly pulled away, just enough for her to be able to really look him in the eyes again. She knew that she was still smiling slightly, especially when she saw how he tried to hide his own.

The blonde shook her head faintly and wanted to bring his lips back to hers, but he stopped her from doing so by pulling his face back again. She already wanted to ask him why he was doing this, if something was wrong, but he was faster.

“You sure you want this?” Bellamy asked her, tucking the few wisps of her hair behind her ears.

There were no reasons for her to say no at this point. After all these days, _weeks_ of pain and suffering, she finally felt relaxed again, comfortable and where she wanted to be. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way, especially right now, but it just made her realize that she had everything that she needed; a great time with people she could now call her friends. For sure, even of those there were people who were a bit more important to her and over the weeks, she figured that Bellamy was one of them.

Again, she wasn’t sure why, perhaps because he had been there for her in the bad times of this show until now, or because they could easily talk with each other. She couldn’t figure it out and if she was being honest, it didn’t really matter. Knowing Bellamy, she had no doubts that he wouldn’t fuck it up and that it wouldn’t change anything between them. She also knew that right now, there was no one else in this house that was able to make her feel the way he did. So yes, she was sure.

“I am,” she said, nodding more to herself than to him. “Pretty sure.”

Clarke blinked a few times, searching for any expression in Bellamy’s eyes, but she wasn’t able to read them. She started to panic. Who even said that he wanted this himself? That he didn’t feel any different, being okay with what they were about to do, and being comfortable around her? She could be the only one of them that was willing to risk their established friendship.

The blonde shook her head, wanted to call things off before they would make a big mistake, but then the smile on Bellamy’s lips grew wider and she knew she didn’t have to. Of course, she panicked for no reason; she should’ve known.

“Good,” he muttered as he leaned down to her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Because I am, too.”

That was everything Clarke needed to hear before she kissed him again, just like before. At the same time, Bellamy wrapped her right leg around his waist, too. She moved her hands from his neck down his shoulders and further down, so she could snuggle her arms around him to run her hands up and down his spine. And she loved it, exploring his body like this; how his skin felt under her fingertips; how his back muscles flexed underneath them when he was moving, just like now.

Bellamy began fondling her hip with his fingers, making Clarke shiver. She tightened the grip of her legs around him and pushed him against her more. She knew that he didn’t want to put his full weight on her body, but all she wanted to be was close to him, as much as possible. At first, Clarke thought that he understood that when he started shifting slightly, but then he moved his lips from hers to her jaw and started placing soft kisses on her skin.

Clarke changed the angle of her head so Bellamy would have better access to her neck. Every time she felt his lips on a new spot of her body, she felt like her skin was burning. She’d never felt this way before, for several reasons. Her ex-boyfriend was far away from Bellamy, in many senses. The one-night-stands she had, had never been about being soft and slow, so for her, this was a new experience. Bellamy was taking his time, kissing a path down to her stomach and Clarke never felt more special than in this moment. Especially, since they both knew that time wasn’t on their side tonight.

But even then, Bellamy didn’t stop at her stomach. He continued his trail of kisses from there on to her legs but didn’t go any further. Clarke opened her eyes when he placed a kiss on her inner thigh and held herself up on her elbows. She smiled lightly to herself as she looked down to him, well, to his curls. He didn’t notice, though, since he kept running his lips over her skin.

For a brief second, she asked herself why she was smiling rather than moaning, but it faded immediately when Bellamy raised his head and met her gaze. Only when he returned it, she realized that she hadn’t stopped smiling.

“What do you want, Clarke?” Bellamy asked while reaching out for her hand. He grabbed it and brought it to his face, kissing the back of it before he rested their locked hands on her stomach.

Clarke thought she was somewhere else, that they were somewhere else, not part of a reality show, not in Los Angeles and that there was no one else but the two of them. The light, that was shining through the window didn’t make it better. The mood was set and there was no way back. If Clarke was being truthful with herself, she knew that she didn’t want things to be different right now. This was exactly what she wanted.

So, she squeezed his hand and laid back on her spine, looking at the ceiling as she spoke.

“I want you.”

Clarke could feel how Bellamy moved up again, his face now right above hers and his arms placed next to her head. She blinked a few times before she tried to look him in the eyes, but with his hair falling into them, she couldn’t. That’s why she raised her hand and used it to push a few strands out of the way. He scoffed a little and again she had to smile, making him shake his head.

“You want me?”

The blonde groaned and reached for one of their pillows before she hit his head with it. Bellamy really crushed her this time and Clarke knew she should be complaining about it, but the feeling of skin on skin kept her from doing so. He lifted his head up from her shoulder where it had been lying after she hit him with the pillow, and rolled his eyes at her, but she was still able to see the light smile that made tugging at his lips.

“Yes, idiot. I want you. Or if you need me to be more specific, I want you inside me.” she said softer than she actually wanted.

Bellamy grinned before he quickly placed a kiss on her shoulder and lifted his weight off her. She’d never thought that he could be _that_ soft and it did things to her stomach that only made her smile even more. But she didn’t want to think about it, not when Bellamy wrapped her legs around his waist again and certainly not when she could feel his dick against her entrance.

Clarke took his face in her hands and kissed him again; soft and slow. She wasn’t scared or anything, that’s not why she chose to kiss him now, but she wasn’t as wet as she had been before, so in case she would feel a bit of pain, she wanted to get distracted by him. Sure, she had the chance to tell him about it so he could use his magic and get her wet in seconds, but she waited long enough; She wanted him now and not in ten minutes.

When Bellamy started pushing inside her, Clarke was actually surprised that it didn’t hurt the way she expected it to. Still, she let out a whimper against his lips which made him stop immediately. He also broke the kiss and pulled his head back, sweeping his eyes over her face. She knew that he was searching for any sign of pain on her face, but there was none because it didn’t hurt; she just had to adjust to his size again and when she saw him nodding to himself slowly, she knew that he understood.

Bellamy leaned back down to her and was the one who initiated the next kiss shared. Clarke let herself sink into it but tightened the grip of her legs around his waist as he pushed deeper inside her. She wrapped her arms around him again to be able to place her hands on his spine, all the while slightly digging her fingers into his skin as he filled her up completely. He stopped there, but kept kissing her tenderly, making her forget about everything else around them.

Clarke really had no idea if he ever did this before, making love, being this soft with someone. Probably; that would explain why he was that good at it and at making her feel secure. It wasn’t like she thought that he wasn’t the type of person to behave like this, not at all. She knew that he had a soft side. He didn’t show it often and for sure not to everyone, but she knew that it was there. That didn’t surprise her, yet she really wanted to know if he had done this before, because she hadn’t. So, this could pass as a first time, right?

She couldn’t think about it any further when Bellamy pulled out a bit, only to thrust back inside her. Even though she should be used to it, she wasn’t because it was different than the three times they had sex with each other in the past. He wasn’t doing it quickly, but he rather took his time and didn’t thrust back roughly inside her. And she liked it. She really did. This change seemed fitting to the things they went through the last couple of days and to the growth of their friendship. She couldn’t even care at this point; she felt good and she wanted to enjoy this time as much as possible.

The moment Bellamy increased his pace a bit, Clarke had to stop kissing him. She threw her head back on the pillow while moaning lightly, digging her nails deeper into his skin. Bellamy groaned and placed his forehead in the crook of her neck before she could feel his lips there.

Clarke bit her lip as she pressed the heels of her feet into his ass, pushing him deeper inside her again after he had just pulled back a bit. They groaned simultaneously when the tip of his shaft hit her g-spot. She could feel how he wanted to stop moving but that wasn’t what she wanted, so she started grinding against him, moaning whenever she could feel him against that spot again.

“Fuck, Bellamy.” she coaxed out when he started sucking on her collarbone. He just growled against her skin in response and got slightly faster again.

The blonde let go of his back with her right hand and brought it up to his hair, running her hand through it and grabbing it whenever she needed to do so.

With every thrust he made, it got hotter in the room and she started sweating more and more. Her hair stuck to her forehead moans escaped her lips which each thrust Bellamy made. She didn’t know how long she would be able to handle all of this, when she would reach her climax. She had no idea and if she was being honest, she didn’t want this to end either. Bellamy could keep making love to her the whole night if he wanted to, she certainly wouldn’t complain, but then again, there was still a birthday party going on for her. Time was running out and it definitely wasn’t good for them.

As soon as Clarke felt Bellamy shift on top of her, she opened her eyes, meeting his the second after that. He pushed some of the strands that were sticking on her forehead out of her face before he hooked his arm under her left leg and pulled her further down the mattress, changing the angle in a way she knew would help him hit her spot with every thrust. And again, she wouldn’t complain. She understood why he changed the position a little bit, she wasn’t the only one who tried to keep the time in mind. Yet, she was surprised by how he was still able to be soft and keep it on the making love level when he increased his pace again.

“Bellamy.” she breathed out, letting go off his hair at the same time.

He looked back at her and wet his lip before he replied her, voice now raspier than before. “Yeah.”

Clarke groaned again before she begun kneading her breasts, closing her eyes at the same time.

“Dios mío, Clarke. Keep doing that.”

The blonde couldn’t help but let out a moan after he said that. She definitely had a thing for Bellamy speaking Spanish while having sex. She wouldn’t deny it and she wanted him to do that more often. It made her wet and she should be ashamed about it, but she wasn’t.

She used her thumbs to tease her own nipples and arched her back when she did so, crying out when the angle changed again. God, she missed that, she really did. All of this. Sex in general, sex with Bellamy, the feeling of getting filled up and being able to block out everything in your surroundings. Fuck it, she mostly really liked doing that with Bellamy, she wouldn’t lie here. And when he pushed her hand from one of her breasts and leaned down to suck on one of her nipples while still rocking his hips against hers, it was confirmed.

“God, yes! Fuck!” Clarke cried out.

Bellamy’s hand slid between their bodies, down to her clit and when he started rubbing it in the same pace he was thrusting inside her, Clarke knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long. It would end sooner than she thought but she couldn’t be sad about that now, not while Bellamy was doing things to her with his mouth, hand, _and_ dick. Fuck it, she needed to come. She wanted to see white and feel that knot in her stomach again before clenching around Bellamy’s shaft.

Clarke grabbed him by his hair to pull his face back up to her and placed her own lips on his as soon as he was close enough for her to do it without lifting her head from the pillow. He immediately kissed her back but this one was already more passionate than the other ones they had shared. Clarke knew what that meant; he was almost there himself and things would heat up from now on. She felt that when Bellamy began rubbing her clit somewhat frantically and adapted his pace to it when their tongues fluttered against each other’s and when she started quivering underneath him.

The blonde turned them around in one swift movement but kept kissing him at the same time, his face in her hands. She felt him place his on her hips and helped her get back into their previous rhythm. Clarke herself wasn’t doing much, she tried to move along but Bellamy mostly took over so she just focused on making out with him and moaning against his lips.

She wasn’t so sure if this still counted as making love, for real, she had no clue about that, but then again, she didn’t care that much. All that mattered was that she was here with Bellamy, that she could feel things and him again and the fact that she was close. And she wanted to come.

So, she pulled back and placed her hands on Bellamy’s chest, using him for leverage before she begun riding him.

“Fuck, Clarke. You like being on top, don’t you?” he breathed out as he got up with his torso and wrapped his arms around her waist, titling his chin up to her a little bit, so he was able to look her in the eyes.

Clarke whimpered as response and draped her own arms around his neck as she got faster, throwing her head back in her neck at the same time.

It felt so good. She never wanted to stop. She really didn’t, but she was fucking close and she hoped that he was, too, because she wouldn’t be able to keep her cool much longer. As weird as it might sound, she wanted him to come with her. They hadn’t done that before, but she wanted to finish this off with him together. She wasn’t sure if she should tell him this, she would probably ask him sooner or later if he was close, but now she just wanted to ride him. So she did.

Clarke unwrapped her arms from his neck before she took his arms from around her and laid her hands on his chest before pushing him onto his back.

“Dios, you wanna come right?”

Was she that obvious? Apparently. Still, she wasn’t ashamed of it since that was actually the goal of sex. She just nodded and sat up correctly, tucking her hair behind her ear as she started grinding on him. But it was only for a brief second before Bellamy turned them around, him on top of her again.

“I’ll make you come then.”

And _now_ Clarke was sure that this didn’t count much as making love anymore. Because Bellamy was back to being his own cocky self and straight up fucked her. And even though she liked it nice and slow, she was always down for a bit rougher and faster sex. No need to lie to herself. And she was sure that Bellamy noticed that herself because now she wasn’t even trying to keep her shit. She just moaned and cried out loudly, not giving a damn if someone was able to hear them, digging her nails in Bellamy’s back and scratching it from time to time. She was sure that it would leave marks but in this case she really couldn’t care less.

When Bellamy above her laid his forehead on her shoulder and started making those deep sounds coming from the back of his throat, she knew that he was close himself. He always made them when he was close and it turned her on that much more that she always came two or three minutes later than that. And she was sure that it wouldn’t be any different now.

“Bellamy, please.” she begged, in need of more friction because she really couldn’t take it anymore. The knot in her stomach was already there and if she wouldn’t let go in a few she would go crazy.

Unsurprisingly, Bellamy understood her immediately and went back to rubbing her clit a little bit furiously. Clarke kept moaning around, scratching his back and from time to time tightening her legs around his waist but she was trembling too much to keep up for too long.

And the moment she came, she saw white, letting out the loudest moan that her voice allowed in that moment and Bellamy followed two or three thrusts later, releasing his semen inside her.

He stopped moving abruptly and let himself fall on top of her but at this point, Clarke really didn’t care. She was still vibrating, seeing stars, and breathing heavily. There wasn’t much to do now other than trying to get off her high and hoping that she wouldn’t fall asleep immediately. After all, she still had to go to the bathroom before she could think of sleeping anyway.

Clarke sighed but turned her head around to take a look at Bellamy, who still had his head placed in the crook of her neck. She smiled to herself while running her hand through his curls which lead to Bellamy letting out a growl. The blonde chuckled and laid her still wobbly legs onto the mattress.

“Bellamy.” she said softly, still playing with his hair.

“Mhm?”

Clarke laughed again and arched her back a bit, motioning him to get up. He mumbled something under his breath but pulled out of her and laid down flat on his stomach, occupying her usual side of the bed. She sighed again and sat up, tucking away the wisps of hair that stuck to her forehead. She then turned her head to Bellamy again who had his eyes still closed, head placed on his forearms. The blonde smiled to herself before she leaned down, kissed his cheek, and got up after that.

She took his shirt off the floor and wore it so she wouldn’t walk through the hallway naked since she had no idea what was going on behind the door. She hoped she managed to look kind of decent when she walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. There was still music coming from downstairs which made her realize that her friends celebrated her birthday without her. She shook her head but smiled to herself anyway as she made her way to the girls’ bathroom. She was already so annoyed by herself because she kept smiling like an idiot the whole time, but she really just had birthday sex, and not just with a random person or someone she would’ve chosen for a one-night-stand. She had it with Bellamy, who was one of her best friends, she believed.

Clarke shook those thoughts away. She just had to pee then she could go back to bed; that was everything she wanted, but when she got into the bathroom, she noticed that Emori was currently washing her hands. Her eyes widened for a moment and she almost left again, but Emori saw her before she could and waved her inside. Clarke swallowed but stepped inside anyway, closing the door as soon as she fully had entered the room. She wasn’t quite sure what she should expect from her friend, yet she tried her best to keep her cool and act normal.

So she smiled at her before she made her way to the toilet. Emori returned her smile but turned her face back to the mirror, distracting herself while Clarke did what she had to do. But that didn’t mean that her friend wouldn’t talk to her at the same time.

“You were gone for a pretty long time.” Emori stated.

Clarke turned her head towards her and found her still looking in the mirror while she was fixing her hair, keeping her attention on herself. She frowned lightly, thinking of what she should say but then again she didn’t want to lie. She sighed slightly to herself before she responded to her friend.

“Yeah, I… had some things to do.”

Well, she wasn’t lying.

“Mhm,” Emori started before she stopped fixing her hair and swept her eyes over to Clarke for a second. “What kind of things?”

Clarke should’ve known that she would try to get it out of her, but she really didn’t want to talk about it. Okay, that’s not true. She wanted to talk about it with Emori; she thought about that a lot already and knew that it would be a fun exchange of information with her. But then again, she had an agreement with Bellamy and Emori would, for sure, tell all of their friends, so no. She had to fight back the urge to tell her and she would keep doing so.

The blonde cleaned herself up quickly before she walked over to the counter and washed her hands.

“Things… I went to the closet of my bedroom and threw some of my clothes out. You know, now that I have a new haircut, I kinda have to get rid of some stuff that doesn’t fit.” she lied. And she was awful at lying, so it was no surprise when Emori faced her and lifted one of her brows.

“And that’s why your hair is a mess right now? I don’t even know what kind of hairstyle this is. It’s all over the place, just like my hair back in the days, remember?”

It wasn’t a question and she knew that Emori was a hundred percent certain of what happened. Perhaps she even knew that Bellamy was the one she was with the whole time since they were the only one’s missing.

Clarke groaned, rolling her eyes at the same time but smiled. God, she would never stop again.

“Fine. But I won’t talk to you about it. I’m tired, I m-”

“You miss him!?” Emori yelled and Clarke wanted to slap her. She had no clue if there was anyone passing the bathroom right now or if someone was close to it and she didn’t want everyone to know. She just furrowed her brows and shook her head.

“That wasn’t what I wanted to say, but-”

Again, Emori cut her off. “You’re not wearing any underwear. Did you fuck without condom? Yeah, you did and he came inside of you. Geez, Clarke, I knew you were a bad girl. Just turned nineteen and already try out all the dirty stuff, huh.”

Clarke slapped her arm and turned around before she made her way out of the bathroom, holding up her middle finger in her friend's direction. She could hear her laugh behind her but right now, she couldn’t care less. She wasn’t embarrassed or anything and Emori knew that Clarke always used to have casual sex instead of relationships. Of course she knew, Clarke told her. But the comment still did something to her.

_Bad girl. Nineteen._

Did Bellamy think so, too, when she had still been eighteen? When he met her on the aircraft and she let him fuck her in the restroom? The blonde shook her head. She didn’t even want to think about it but it was still tempting to know the answer.

Clarke entered the bedroom again, closing the door behind her as slowly and quietly as she could. There was the chance that Bellamy was still awake, but she didn’t think so. He wasn’t far away from falling asleep when she left him a few minutes ago and the room was lit in the most comfortable way to fall asleep anyway.

She walked towards the bed and took off Bellamy’s shirt before she pulled the covers away and got underneath them. He was laying on his back now which she took as an invitation to cuddling. So, she scooted closer and laid down sideways, placing her head in the dip of his neck and put her leg over his, so half of hers was in between his. She pulled the blanket over them as much as possible and wrapped her left arm around his torso before she closed her eyes.

Clarke really would have to thank him in the morning. And not only him, but also, all of her friends. Because of them, she knew that her actual birthday would end up perfect for her. She didn’t have any needs or wishes, she was just happy about being able to celebrate it with her favourite people, in this city.

She smiled to herself and started drifting off before falling asleep just by focusing on Bellamy’s heartbeat.

# # # # # # # # # # 

_ Camera Room _ _– Gossip Gang (Raven, Emori, Octavia)_

Raven dropped herself onto the couch as soon as the three of them entered the camera room. She was way too drunk to keep holding herself up on her feet anymore and she was tired, yet, it wasn’t the end of the party. It was only 1 am, way too early to go to bed now, but she wouldn’t be the only one either.

She started laughing while Octavia pushed her to the side a bit.

“Move, I need to sit down.”

Emori shook her head and sat down on Raven’s lap after she turned on the camera.

_“Ugh, I’ll not survive today.”_ Raven uttered before she let her head fall off the armrest.

_“Oh, I think you want to survive today. I have good news.”_ Emori said, smirking at Octavia first before she looked into the camera.

_“Spit it out. You brought us here to tell us something even though I was currently with Lincoln, so please. Just drop the beans.”_

Emori laughed but grabbed Raven’s hair and pulled her back to sit up correctly. She groaned and hit the back of her head but Emori just did the same as soon as she let go off Raven’s hair. She shook her head and turned it back to the camera.

_“I’ll make it quick. Clarke and Bellamy fucked.”_

Raven pushed Emori off her lap and jumped up, grabbing the pillow that was on the couch only to throw it back on it again.

_“Fucking finally, I can’t believe they didn’t have sex before that. Took them four fucking weeks to jump each other, ugh. I hope they did that as long as they could. Bellamy eating Clarke out, Clarke sucking off-”_

_“Woman, if you keep talking I’ll actually throw up on you.”_ Octavia said, now laying down on her back since everyone got off the couch.

Emori and Raven sat down on the floor. The latter kept shaking her head in disbelief with a big grin on her lips.

_“And also,”_ the youngest of them begun, turning her friends attention to them. _“They already fucked before. Like two or three times, I don’t know.”_

Raven screamed and hit Emori with the pillow who fell against the stand of the camera, causing it to fall down. Octavia sat up correctly and looked at her friends, shaking her head as she got up, holding herself on the armrest of the couch.

_“Is it still working?”_ Emori asked.

Raven got up herself and helped Emori to her feet after that. She just shrugged her shoulders and motioned Octavia to walk out of the room.

_“Whatever, let’s get out of here. Fuck, I need to tell Miller. And Harper… Roan! Oh my God, we need to tell everyone.”_ Raven brabbled.

Octavia just groaned and hit the back of her head when they walked out of the camera room.

_“Shut the fuck up, Rae.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise surprise who knew they would make love instead of just fucking... anyway! who do you guys think will NOT remember what happened? comment and let's see who of you is right. 
> 
> my two favorite chapters are coming. all i'm going to say is: bellamy blake is a boyfriend and clarke is slowly falling for it. 
> 
> much love and see you on sunday! xo


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, here's my second favorite chapter, so... you can imagine how i feel right now. you will find out who 'forgot' about the night AND why bellamy is a boyfriend and ofc why clarke is falling... deep. 
> 
> i hope you enjoy today's chapter!

Week 4, Day 22 – Friday. Los Angeles. 9 am.

Birds were singing when Clarke blinked her eyes open. She was lying on her stomach, head resting on her arm and turned to the direction of the window. Since it was already bright outside, she believed it had to be around 8 or 9 in the morning. She didn’t even want to think about it, especially not with the way her head was pounding.

The blonde groaned and turned on her back, pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes. It had been a bad idea drinking such a large amount of alcohol, but of course she thought that since it was her birthday, she could get herself real drunk; she was taking part in a reality show, she shouldn’t be drinking in the first place, but whatever.

Clarke turned her head back in the direction of the window and by doing so, she noticed the glass of water and advil on her nightstand. She frowned a bit but sat up as slowly as she could, hand placed on her forehead.

"Fuck…" she muttered to herself then scooted to the end of the bed and swung her legs off it. That was the moment she realized that she was naked. Her eyes widened for a bit before she got back under the blanket.

What the hell happened last night?

There were a few things she still remembered but there were also some holes. She wrinkled her forehead and closed her eyes as she tried to recall the night from the beginning to the end, but even then, she only remembered how Miller was making her cocktails, that Roan and Raven had sex in the garden and that Bellamy was there with her. She cut her hair… and after that?

Clarke shook her head and used the covers, wrapping them around her body before she swung her legs off the bed again and looked out of the window. She really should figure out what happened last night and as soon as possible, but first, she had to get rid of her headache.

Whoever placed the water and the medication beside her deserved all her love. She took the ibuprofen together with the glass of water before she put it back on the nightstand. After that, she laid back down, this time with her body turned towards the door. Only then she noticed that Bellamy wasn’t lying next to her which confused her even more. Sure, he was a morning person and got up pretty early, but something still irritated her and she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Clarke closed her eyes and pressed her face into the pillow, trying to get her memories back. She remembered walking into the camera room, meeting Miller, Zeke, and Bellamy there. They complimented her new look…

"Clarke?"

The blonde lifted her head and sat up when she saw the person sitting on the bed turned towards her. She held onto the covers, hoping that they wouldn’t fall off, hiding her naked self from the person in front of her. She brought herself to smile slightly, but it was probably pretty obvious that it was somewhat fake anyway.

"Morning, Murphy."

He smirked at her before he nodded at something behind her. Clarke furrowed her brows but turned her head around, yet, she didn’t know what Murphy was trying to show her. She faced him again and tilted her head to the side. His smirk just grew wider before he pointed to something behind her again.

"Did you take the advil?" he asked Clarke.

_Oh_. She should’ve known that he was talking about that.

Clarke nodded as she raked her fingers through her hair, reparting it to the side.

"Yeah, I did. Um…" she chewed on her lip for a while, not sure if she should really go any further, but Murphy was still smirking so he probably was waiting for her to finish the sentence she started.

"Did you put it there?" she added.

Murphy snorted and shook his head. "God, no. I’m your friend, Clarke. Not your husband."

Clarke rolled her eyes at his comment. It wasn’t the first time that some of her friends dropped something like that when she was around. They wanted her to hear it and were definitely serious about it but even then, the comments weren’t funny at all. There was no hubby and wifey thing, nor a parents one, and she wasn’t dumb. She knew who he was talking about.

"Shut up, Murphy," Clarke said, making her friend across from her laugh. "No, seriously. Just tell me who got the ibuprofen."

Murphy shook his head and got up. "Clarke, I already told you it was your hubby. He’s making breakfast downstairs right now, though. A lot of people are still asleep, but I know that Monty and Bellamy aren’t."

Clarke sighed and nodded, sending him a light smile. "Thanks."

"No problem." Murphy replied before he turned around on his heels and walked out of the room.

The blonde let herself fall backwards onto the bed, groaning at the same time.

She didn’t want to get up. All she wanted to do was sleep the whole day long and eat breakfast in bed, but she knew that this wasn’t something she should do, not here. If she was at home, she would have definitely decided to stay in bed, yet she was here. If she couldn’t stay in bed, then she would lay down on the couch, that’s it.

But first, she needed to find her clothes.

So, Clarke got up, blanket still wrapped around her body, and started searching for them on the floor. She always left them on the ground: at home, here. Luckily, no one had spoken with her about it, yet. Still, her clothes weren’t anywhere near her bed which confused her at first, but then she remembered who she was sharing a bed with.

Bellamy.

He usually cleaned up their area of the room once a day of all their clothes, snack bags, or bottles of water. It only made sense to Clarke that he put her stuff away before heading downstairs, but he wasn’t here now and everyone else in the room was still sleeping. She suspected that he brought them back into the closet and she was thankful for that, but he could’ve left her underwear near the bed. God. 

Clarke made her way to the closet as quietly as possible and checked if it was free first. She never wanted to experience someone seeing her naked again because she was caught up in her own thoughts and didn’t look if the closet was already occupied. Luckily, the closet was empty; she should’ve know since everyone was still sleeping. 

The blonde closed the door behind her before she walked over to the drawer that had her stuff in it. And as expected, her clothes were lying on top of it. She smiled to herself before she unwrapped the blanket from her body and put on her underwear. She would go take a shower later, first she had to eat something. 

Clarke stepped into some black leggings and combined it with a black top. That would be enough for now, she could decide after breakfast if she would wear something else that fit to her birthday more or if she would stay this basic. She had no idea what her friends planned to do today and there weren’t many options anyway. 

She made a brief stop in the girl’s bathroom and again, no one else was currently in it. Clarke preferred being alone now anyway; she still had some holes in her memories and she really wanted to figure out what happened after she entered the camera room. 

While thinking about it, she brushed her teeth and looked at herself in the mirror. She still couldn’t believe that she cut her hair. Sure, it really looked good, but so many things could’ve went wrong in Emori’s and her drunken state. Thank God everything went fine. 

Clarke ran her hand through hair again as she leaned her head to the side, still cleaning her mouth. Only then she noticed a spot on her collarbone that looked like a bruise. She frowned and finished brushing her teeth before she rinsed out her mouth and jumped onto the counter, sitting on her knees and moved closer to the mirror. 

She brushed her fingers over the spot a few times trying to figure out what happened to her in the night that she now had a bruise on her collarbone. Clarke tried thinking harder as she kept running her fingers over it, but she just couldn’t remember. She sighed and jumped off the counter before she closed her toiletry bag. At the same time, the door to the room opened, making her turn her head to the side. 

It was Maya. 

Clarke smiled at the brunette who returned it lightly, closing the door behind her. She didn’t want to participate in small talk with Maya; they hadn’t been very close yet but she liked her and she wanted to see where else this friendship could go. So, instead of small talk, Clarke begun a conversation with a real topic as soon as the other girl stepped next to her and got her things out of her toiletry bag. 

"I really hope you feel better than I do."

Maya chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t drink as much as you did. I just have a light headache but I already took some ibuprofen.” 

“God, am I the only one who thought of dumping myself?” Clarke asked, laughing a bit at the same time. 

The brunette turned her head to her and smiled before she parted her lips to say something. But instead of doing so, she closed them again and furrowed her brows. Now, Clarke was confused, too. 

"Everything alright?"

Maya crooked her head to the side and chuckled again.

"Is that a hickey?"

Clarke’s eyes widened for a few seconds before she turned back to face herself in the mirror. She leaned over the counter as far as possible, too lazy to jump on it again and… Jesus. It was really a hickey. Why did she think that was a bruise? But more important when did she get it, who gave it to her and why? God, she really had to start figuring out what happened later that night or she would freak out.

The blonde took some steps back from the counter and turned back to her friend, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Please tell me you know what happened to me last night." she begged.

Maya just shook her head but smiled a little bit. “I have no idea, though. I almost spent all the time downstairs but I know that you didn’t rejoin us after Emori cut your hair. At some point Finn, Lincoln, Octavia, Wells and Luna went to bed, much earlier than the rest of us, and I remember that Bellamy wasn’t with us either.”

Clarke ran a hand over her face. Too many questions, too many people, no answers. This couldn’t be happening.

"Hey…," the blonde took her hand off her face and looked at Maya again. "I have no idea what was going on up here but you can ask one of them, they probably know."

She nodded and sent Maya a light smile. "Thanks, really."  

"No problem." the brunette replied before brushing her own teeth.

Clarke knew that this meant their conversation was over and there wasn’t anything else she wanted to do in the bathroom. She just waved Maya goodbye before she left the room again and brought her stuff back into the closet. Time was running out and if she would continue doing things so slowly, she could forget about going back to sleep. She knew that her friends had something planned for her birthday and she was totally fine with that as long as it wouldn’t include anything where she had to move a lot or involved alcohol; She never wanted to see it in her life again.

The blonde finally made her way downstairs, ready to get some breakfast. After all, that’s what she deserved after such a rough night. She just hoped that some food was ready because she couldn’t wait any longer. She wanted orange juice and pancakes with scrambled eggs on the side. Perhaps, some bacon, syrup shouldn’t be missing either… toast, too. God, she could eat everything now, it really didn’t matter.

Clarke was about to walk inside the kitchen and living area but stopped herself and took a few steps backwards, pressing her back against the wall.

"I don’t know… do you think it was a mistake? And I’m serious. Do you regret it?"

_Monty_.

Clarke turned her head to the stairs, checking to see if anyone was coming downstairs but luckily, no one was. She didn’t want to listen to a conversation like this, but what Monty said was too interesting to just walk in and interrupt whatever was going on in there. 

"Monty…," _Bellamy_. "I never said that I regret it, but that doesn’t mean that it should’ve happened."

Clarke lifted one of her brows and turned sideways, back turned towards the stairs. She shouldn’t be interested in this conversation, seriously. But what did Bellamy mean by this? What were they talking about? Again, too many questions, no answers. Getting wasted was the worst idea she ever had because now she only remembered half of what happened in the night. She probably would’ve known what Bellamy was talking about if she hadn’t been that drunk, but staying where she was right now helped her put some pieces together, too.

"So, you say you don’t think it was a mistake, yet you say it shouldn’t have happened? That doesn’t add up you know." Monty uttered.

"It does add up." Bellamy disagreed.

"Bellamy…," Monty sighed before he continued. "Do you like her or not?"

Her? Alright, now Clarke really hated herself for drinking too much. So, if she understood correctly something happened between a girl and Bellamy. Meanwhile, Monty wanted him to be honest and tell him if he liked the girl or not. Right, first pieces put together.

"That’s not what we’re talking about."

Clarke could hear how one of them hit something, probably the table and she guessed that it was Monty. She had to roll her eyes yet smile because of how hard Bellamy was trying to avoid answering the questions. It wasn’t even funny or anything and she could understand that Monty didn’t like it at all, but it was still kind of adorable.

"That’s exactly what we’re talking about, Bellamy! You avoid telling the truth for ten minutes now and I’m not dumb. Murphy isn’t either and he woke up seconds after you. He confronted you but you completely skirted around the truth." Monty said, raising his voice this time.

"Can you give me the waffle iron?"  

"Sure."

Clarke was able to hear how a stool was pushed back and she thought that it was her moment to either leave completely or enter the kitchen. She felt like a horrible person for staying behind the wall and listening to their conversation, but she wanted to know what was going on so badly that she didn’t make a move. She just stayed pressed against the wall and waited for Bellamy to say something next, which he did.

"I know you guys are our friends and you want to be included in whatever is happening between us, but there isn’t anything. We had sex, yeah, multiple times and what now? You think because of that we’re a perfect match? You can ask her yourself, she’ll tell you the same."

Clarke bit her lip as she tried to figure out who Bellamy meant. For sure it was someone from their group that he had sex with pretty often, but as much as she knew, there was only Raven that he had slept with and it was a long time ago. And, well, except for her friend, there she was, being the only person he could…

Oh God. She really had been this dumb. They were talking about her. Bellamy and Monty were talking about her. She was surprised that Bellamy just told their friend about it, but then again, Octavia knew already, Roan saw them, too and Emori now knew that…

Clarke bit her inner cheek, keeping herself from letting out a sound that would reveal that she was standing behind the wall, eavesdropping on her friends.

She remember what happened after the camera room. She recalled what she said to Finn, what she did in the bedroom and how she was the one to initiate them making love rather than fucking and that’s what Bellamy and Monty were talking about. If she was being honest, she didn’t want to hear any more than that, not because she was afraid of where their talk would lead to, but because she didn’t regret what happened. Sure, they didn’t want to go down that path again, but with what was going on the past few days and weeks, it was all leading up to it.

"You can’t say that it’s just sex, Bellamy. You guys don’t see how different you are with other people. I don’t know who’s a perfect match, I’m still trying to figure that out, but you and Clarke act like a couple. I would’ve said the same thing even before you told me about the first week."  

Alright, that was Clarke’s keyword. She knew what was going on, she was fine with it and if Monty had a clue about whatever she had with Bellamy, then there was no reason for her to hide behind the wall and keep listening to their conversation.

Clarke raked her fingers through her hair, adjusting it to the side and took a step away from the wall before she fixed her clothes. She didn’t know why she was doing it but just in case… since she had no idea what she should expect to see. She breathed out one last time before she entered the kitchen area.

"And what makes us-"

"Morning," the blonde greeted as she walked to the counter across from the island and sat down on it.

Monty was leaning against the counter across from her while Bellamy was standing right next to her, also leaning against the counter.

"Good morning to you, too." Monty said with a smile on his face before he swept his eyes over to Bellamy and then back to her.

Clarke turned her head to the side to take a look at him. It didn’t surprise her that he was facing her already but something about his expression was different. She couldn’t figure it out and it bothered her because she knew that he was thinking of something right now. She wanted to know what, but couldn’t make it obvious either, so she used another way of figuring out what mood he was in.

"Hey." she said softly with a little smile on her lips.

"Hey." Bellamy replied casually as he folded his arms in front of his chest and Clarke wanted to die. 

She thought that he would react differently and it irritated her that he decided to go with that. It hurt in a way that confused her but she just nodded and turned her face back to Monty, ignoring the feeling.

"How long have you been up?"

Clarke hated small talk but right now there wasn’t anything she could do. There was clearly some tension between the three of them and she hated herself for interrupting her friend’s talk. She should’ve stayed in bed instead of getting up.

Monty laughed slightly before he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don’t even know, but definitely too long for my liking."

She smiled lightly and thought of what to say next because she knew that she hadn’t been up for a long time for certain reasons, but she couldn’t talk about it and didn’t want to either since Bellamy was behaving… weird. It was awkward and she didn’t want to bring anything up that would lead back to the conversation he had with Monty before she walked in on them, so she just stayed quiet.

And that caused silence amongst the three of them.

Monty started feeling uncomfortable, Clarke could see that by the way he kept changing the position of his legs and feet. Meanwhile, she was trying hard not to turn her head back to Bellamy and search for any expression again.

Clarke sighed and was about to slide down off the counter but couldn’t do it when Bellamy stepped in front of her and placed his hands on each side of her legs, standing between them. She would’ve tried to avoid meeting his gaze, but now it was impossible with the way they were positioned and she knew that he would crack a joke as soon as she would look away, so she didn’t.

Whatever was going on confused her even more than how he greeted her a few seconds ago. And not only that; her heart was beating faster than before too and she couldn’t explain why to herself. Perhaps because Bellamy was looking at her quite intensely, or because she knew that Monty was standing across from them, but she couldn’t bring herself to break eye contact yet she did for two quick seconds. 

She swept her eyes down to his lips for a brief moment because he wet them with his tongue and she knew he did that on purpose. Bellamy was aware of what he was doing and she hated him for that… and she hated herself because she leaned forward and kissed him.

Clarke could feel him smirk against her lips and she wanted to roll her eyes but she didn’t need anymore as soon as he kissed her back, slow and gentle. She didn’t know what to do with her hands or with the unknown feeling that was currently rushing through her body. All she knew was that she was feeling much better than a few seconds ago when Bellamy was behaving distant because now he wasn’t.

He wrapped his arms around the small of her back and pulled her closer to the edge of the counter whereupon she placed her hands on his bare chest for leverage. Then, she found herself smiling against Bellamy’s lips causing them to break apart.

Clarke took his arms away from her and skittered backwards. Bellamy just cocked one of his brows with a grin on his face. By the warm feeling starting to grow on her cheeks and around her heart, she knew she was blushing.

"That’s what I meant with acting like a couple."

The blonde looked over Bellamy’s shoulder who was still standing in front of her and could see her friend smile. She bit her lower lip again, understanding why Monty was rather smiling than sending her a grin. But even if he was right, they weren’t a couple and would never be for various reasons. Yet, it wasn’t the time to think about it. Today was her birthday and she wanted to be in a good mood and after Bellamy stopped being an asshole to her, she felt better. She hoped that the whole day would continue like that.

"I’m starving," Clarke said as she looked around the kitchen area, seeing some waffles, fruit and bacon on plates, in bowls, or still in the pan. "Am I allowed to eat?"

Bellamy shook his head and stepped away from her, walking over to the kitchen island. "No, you’re not."  

"Shut up."

Clarke jumped off the counter and followed him over to the other side. She reached her arm out for one of the waffles on a plate but Bellamy placed himself in front of her, stopping her from doing so.

"Bellamy!" she yelled while trying to push him away but obviously she couldn’t.

"Get out of here, princess. There’s nothing for you to get." he replied and she knew that he was smirking again.

She groaned, slightly annoyed by his behaviour but then something made its way into her mind. She grinned to herself before she jumped on Bellamy’s back.

"Jesus, Clarke." he said, catching her anyway.

The blonde reached around him and took a strawberry out of one of the fruit bowls and this time, he wasn’t stopping her. Probably because he was currently pouring dough into the waffle iron, but even then, Clarke was proud because her plan had worked. She didn’t feel bad for him one bit; she was hungry and she wanted to eat. He should let her. It was her birthday after all.

"Listen to what the man says, Clarke." Monty said while laughing.

She shook her head and reached for another one but then Bellamy let her almost fall off his back so she had to grab his shoulder with both of her hands.

"I hate you so much, Bellamy Blake." she grumbled.

Bellamy snorted as he tightened his grip under her thighs. "Sure you do."

"Oh, trust me on that one."  

Monty laughed again as he shook his head. "Also," Clarke turned her head around to face her friend. "As far as I know, Octavia and Raven wanted to talk to you. I met Octavia earlier in the hallway."

Clarke nodded and jumped off Bellamy’s back. "Alright, I’ll go then." She turned him around to her and jabbed her finger into his chest. "And after, that I’ll come back downstairs and you’ll feed me. Treat me like a real princess if you already call me like that."

"Just turned nineteen and already so demanding." he replied with a smirk on his face.

The blonde scoffed before she turned on her heels and walked towards the stairs. "I’ve always been."

She could hear Bellamy laugh behind her and Monty mumbling something under his breath that she couldn’t understand. She made her way upstairs again with a smile on her face. The day started better than she thought and the fact that Octavia and Raven wanted to talk to her, made it even better. She just hoped that the day would stay like this without shit going down.

# # # # # # # # # #

"Maya, please just do it." Raven begged before she pressed a pillow against her face.

"I don’t want to. I have my period and I don’t want to get up. I have cramps." Maya whined, turning on her stomach.

Clarke frowned lightly, remembering that she stopped taking birth control four days ago but her period wasn’t here yet. She shook her head and threw one of the cushions against Raven who was lying on the bed across from her. She herself was sitting between Sasha and Octavia.

"Get up, Rae, no one is going to do it for you."

Her friend groaned but placed the pillow back against the headboard and sat up.

"Did you even think about that for a little bit?" she asked, putting her hair back in a ponytail.

"Yes, I did," Clarke replied as she got up from the bed. "Just do it. I mean, what are you going to lose? I don’t want to go, I’m hungry. Octavia is meeting up with Lincoln in a few. Sasha and Monty are planning to have breakfast together and Maya has her period. You don’t see Emori here, she’s probably fucking Murphy right now, and Harper is sleeping."  

She walked closer to her friend and nudged her elbow into Raven’s side. The brunette flinched and shot her a glare before she rolled her eyes.

"You have to do it yourself. You’re Raven. Do you really think Maya would be able to ask Roan? No hard feelings, Maya."  

The brunette just waved her off with her hand as she pulled the blanket further up to her shoulders. Clarke turned back to face Raven who was now clearly considering it.

"Just do it, he’s not going to bite you. I mean, if he didn’t already." That’s when the blonde got her arm hit. “What!? It’s true!”

"And that’s why I don’t want to ask him! We had sex nothing else. There are no feelings involved and I bet he doesn’t even care about me."

Now Octavia groaned and brought herself into the conversation. "You sound like Clarke."  

Not what Clarke expected.

"What do you mean she sounds like me?" she questioned in confusion.

Raven and Octavia shared a look for a second. Raven shook her head while her other friend nodded slowly with a smile on her face.

"Can someone tell me what the hell you guys are talking about?" she asked again, losing it a little.

Octavia just shrugged her shoulders before she opened the drawer of her nightstand and picked nail polish out of it. "Well," she started, closing the drawer again then leaned against the headboard. "You fucked my brother and he said you only have sex, but clearly there are feelings involved. You guys just don’t want to admit that to yourselves."

Clarke’s eyebrows shut up the moment her friend finished her last sentence. She could feel how her heart started racing a bit faster but she ignored it and ran her fingers through her hair, chewing on her lower lip for a second before she finally brought herself to say something.

"You’re so wrong, O."

"Is she?" Clarke spun her head to Raven who had her arms folded in front of her breasts and looked at her with amusement and curiosity. "I mean, you don’t have feelings for Bellamy then? You wouldn’t mind seeing him with someone else? Like… I don’t know Sasha or any of the other participants? Echo? Luna?"

Clarke parted her lips to defend herself but shut her mouth again. She wanted to find the right answer first, but it didn’t take her long to actually find it because she knew what to say, which was the truth after all.

She shrugged her shoulders and sat down on Raven’s bed. "He’s not my perfect match anyway. And I don’t think Echo would fit with him. She’s… herself. She never tried to be nice to any of us… and I spent a lot of time with her because of Lexa,” she shook her head at the visual of her and Bellamy together. “No, I don’t see it. Sasha again could be an option. You could be his match."  

"It’s time for you to shut your mouth." Octavia said while throwing a pillow at her. Luckily, she caught it but didn’t throw it back since her friend was doing her nails, but rather placed it behind her.

"And why should I?"  

Raven hit the back of her head lightly. "Because you’re a dumbo, that’s why. I can’t believe you just said that… no match. Wish we would’ve put you into the Truth Booth."  

"Hey!" Octavia snapped her head up. "I was in it and it’s confirmed that Lincoln is my perfect match, okay? We’re going to the honeymoon suite and I’m glad you guys picked us."  

Clarke used that moment to change the topic and focus on her friend.

"I mean… we had our difficulties so I really don’t know how far your relationship with Lincoln is."  

Octavia smiled and put the nail polish on the nightstand before she scooted over to the edge of the bed, now sitting across her.

"Perfect describes it best." she smiled and Clarke had to as well. She wanted all of her friends to be happy, especially after everything they went through in the past week. All she wished for was that everything would be fine again and that they would be able to win one million dollar in the end of this game.

"I just… I don’t know. I feel so carefree around him, comfortable and loved. When we were on our date together, I never wanted to leave again. I was at one of the most beautiful spots on the world with Lincoln right by my side and I really couldn’t ask for anyone better to be my match. I mean, I kinda knew that he was but having it confirmed means so much… more I guess? And I know that I have feelings for him already. I’m in love with him and I don’t think that’ll ever stop."

Clarke’s smile grew wider with every second her friend spoke and when she was done, she got up and walked over to her to give her a hug. Her friend hugged her back and she could feel Octavia smile into her shoulder. She was happy indeed and that was the most important thing. This show really made her friend feel good and worked out for her perfectly in respect of love. She would definitely miss her being around when she and Lincoln would leave on Sunday for the honeymoon suite.

The blonde let go and smiled at Octavia who returned it easily.

"Thanks, Clarke."

She frowned and shook her head lightly. "Why… what are you thanking me for?"  

Octavia smiled. "You said if I think that Lincoln is my match, I should approach him. That’s what I did, because of you and I couldn’t thank you anymore for it."  

Clarke smiled and nodded a little bit, showing her friend that she appreciated it. She didn’t think that Octavia had to thank her for telling her what this show was about, she just said what she had to do if she thought about someone being her match. Octavia was the one who then went to Lincoln, not her, but she knew that her friend would keep thanking her until her ears would fall off, so she just let it be.

"So, does that mean I should approach Bellamy now since it worked with Lincoln and Octavia? Is he my match then?" Sasha asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"No," all of them turned their heads to Maya who just flipped onto her back. "Bellamy is Clarke’s perfect match. Don’t get in between that."

Clarke rolled her eyes. "We’re not but keep thinking that."  

"I can’t hear that anymore. The next time you guys go on a date, I’ll make sure to vote you idiots into the Truth Booth."  

She rolled her eyes again and Octavia opened her mouth to say something, but then the door to their bedroom opened and each one of them turned their attention to the girl standing in the doorframe.

It was Luna.

"Hey," she swept her eyes around everyone in the room and smiled lightly before she pointed behind her with her thumb. "I just wanted to ask if you know what’s going on in our bathroom? I wanted to take a shower but…"

Sasha rose up from the bed and took some steps closer to Luna. "But?"

Luna looked at Clarke for a second which caused her to furrow her brows a little before the girl looked at Sasha and responded.

"Just come with me, it’s hard to describe."

Clarke nodded and turned to Maya. "You got this here?"  

The brunette smiled lightly and waved her off. "You guys go check out what’s going on in there. I’ll be fine. I took painkillers that should kick in in a few."

"Alright," Raven said while Octavia got up. "Let’s go inspect this then."  

Clarke and her friends, including Luna, made their way out of the bedroom. She closed the door behind her, just in case it got too loud for Maya to sleep. She then followed the girls to the bathroom, walking next to Luna while doing so. The girl had a smile on her face which faded quickly as soon as she saw her looking at her. Clarke sent her a quizzing look but Luna just shrugged her shoulders and turned her head back to the front.

They stopped at the door of the bathroom and Luna went to stand in front of it with her back towards it.

"I really have no clue who did that, okay? But like… anyway." she opened the door and walked in, first followed by Sasha and Octavia.

Although Clarke was a bit further away and walked slower she could hear Sasha murmur ‘wow’. That caught her interest, so she shoved Raven, who stood in her way, inside and entered the room after her but stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw what Luna meant. Raven closed the door behind her while Clarke’s jaw dropped open.

_Shut the fuck up_ , she thought while stepping further inside and sweeping her eyes around the bathroom.

It was completely dark, only lit by the candles burning on the countertop, the commode standing across from her, and on the bathtub. Next to it, there were two pink balloons, a 1 and a 9, that reached the ceiling, standing close to one another. The blonde swept her eyes back to the commode first and walked over to it, covering her mouth with her hand. Her heart was racing when she stopped in front of it and saw a bouquet of flowers lying on top of it. It had white daisies as well as some sunflowers, but there was one flower that stood out and was in the middle of them all; a red rose.

Clarke took her hand from her mouth and picked up the bouquet. She brought it up to her nose and inhaled its scent, closing her eyes for a bit. Not only did it look like it was made with love, but it also smelled good. She opened her eyes again and pulled her head back, searching for a card attached. When Clarke found one, she picked it out of the bouquet and read what was written on there, hoping that she would find out who left them, but there was only _‘Happy Birthday’_ written on it in capital letters.

"Clarke?"  

The blonde placed the mix of flowers back on the commode and turned around, facing Octavia who pointed to the floor. She frowned lightly but swept her eyes to the floor, noticing that there were two paths made of blossoms from orchids. One lead to the commode she was standing in front of, the other to the tub. She lifted her head again and looked at her friends for a second who were just as surprised by all of this like her. Raven was making her own way towards the commode while Octavia and Luna were standing in the middle of the room, sweeping their eyes across it. Meanwhile, Sasha had her back turned to all of them, standing in front of the bathtub.

Clarke cleared her throat as she walked over, stopping right next to her and she had to keep herself calm because otherwise, she would definitely start crying. She couldn’t believe this was happening; she didn’t deserve this much attention and especially not only because of her birthday.

Sasha nudged Clarke’s side with her elbow, making her look at her. She hoped that it wasn’t visible that she was close to tears, but she couldn’t figure it out either because her friend gave her another card. It was pink from the front and back without anything written on it. She sent Sasha a light smile before she took it out of her friend’s hand. Clarke had no clue what to expect at this point and it didn’t make it easier for her to react quietly with her friends so silent around her. She took one last breath before she opened the card and read what was written inside of it. When she did, she started blushing, trying to keep herself from smiling while reading the sentence over and over again.

_‘After days of pain and suffering, the princess deserves a break.”_

She breathed out a laugh. He really did that. All of this, just for her.

"Clarke?"

"Huh?" she said as she quickly closed the card and turned around to her friends and Luna. They were now standing closer to her and Sasha, all of them with a curious look on their face.

"What is going on?" Octavia asked, waving around with her hand to show her that she asked about what all of this meant, but she didn’t even know herself.

"Uh," Clarke turned back around to take a closer look at the tub. It was already filled with water and had a lot of bubbles in it, too. A bathtub board was placed in the middle of it with two plates of waffles with syrup and blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries on top. There were two glasses of water and orange juice on it too, with another candle placed on the board. Sweeping her eyes over to the edge of the tub, the word _‘Princess’_ was written in letters pink.

Clarke chewed on her lip and looked at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears that wanted to roll down her cheeks back.

"Are you crying?" Raven asked and she was really near tears, but she pulled herself together and faced the tub again as she ran her hand through her hair, adjusting it to the side.

"I’m not, it’s just… I didn’t expect anyone to do this for me." she said while placing the card on the board.

"Anyone?" Sasha questioned, eyebrow raised.

Clarke was aware of her friend knowing that there was only one person calling her princess, but that didn’t mean that she wanted the rest of her friends to know about that, too. Sure, they had a right to know after seeing… all of this, but it was something between her and Bellamy. Even though it was a bit too much, she couldn’t deny that it was one of the most beautiful things someone ever did for her, if not the most.

"Yeah… whatever." she said, turning on her heels and was about to leave the bathroom but then Raven grabbed her by the forearm, stopping her from doing so. "What?"  

"You know who did this, don’t you? Was it-"

The door opened and everyone turned their heads around to who was standing in the doorframe.

"Woah," Emori said while taking a few steps forward into the room. " _That’s_ a birthday present."

Clarke parted her lips, ready to say something but Octavia got in between, taking Raven’s arm away from her.

"It’s over, guys. Let’s go back to our room and let Clarke enjoy her present, okay? Whoever did this wants her to do so which means, we gotta bounce."

The blonde smiled at her friend, mouthing her a ‘thank you’ while the others agreed to what the brunette said and made their way out of the room. In the end, it was only her and Octavia and she knew what was waiting for her. She kneaded her hands a bit, preparing herself for whatever was about to come next but her friend just smiled at her and patted her shoulder before she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Clarke thought that was her moment to freak out, but it didn’t happen. Instead, she believed that her heart would jump out of her chest soon because, God, what should she say to all of this? Never did she imagine that someone would do anything like this for her; not her ex-boyfriend, not Monroe… really no one. And then there was Bellamy who truly treated her like a princess and she didn’t even deserve it. Not one bit.

She sighed with a light smile on her face and swept her eyes through the room again. He even had a fucking theme for this. She had to draw this. Everything: the setting, the little details… him perhaps. _Fuck it_. Bellamy was nowhere in sight yet anyway, so she walked out of the bathroom and jogged over to her room. She pulled the door open and looked around, first checking if anyone was inside and, of course, there were people, but only Sasha and Murphy.

Clarke smiled at them which they returned and she could see that Murphy wanted to say something, but she quickly made her way to her bed and pulled the drawer open as she held up her hand showing him to shut up. She took her sketchbook, a clipboard, and pencil out of it and closed it with her hip before she jogged out of the room again.

"Alright, Clarke. It was nice to see you!" Murphy shouted, making her laugh a little.

She entered the bathroom again and closed the door behind her. Bellamy wasn’t in it yet so she had time to take a quick shower before he would arrive.

Clarke walked over to the bathtub and placed her sketchbook with the pencil and clipboard on the edge. She then stepped out of her clothes and made her way to the shower, turning on the water at the right temperature and got inside. She just wanted to clean herself before she would get into the tub. The water was probably already cold, so she had to fill it with new water after she was done.

God, she still couldn’t believe that this was about to happen. She knew she wouldn’t be able to speak a word or even look Bellamy in the eyes; In no way she would be able to do that after seeing all of this.

_After days of pain and suffering, the princess deserves a break._

She shook her head and smiled to herself as she begun washing her body. How could she thank him for doing this? It was only her birthday and the pain in her abdomen didn’t kick in since the day they went on their date. Bellamy had already done enough with taking her out anyway. She hoped that he didn’t have anything else planned for her because this was a lot already. Nobody would’ve done that for her, so she was already thankful for the date itself and for what he had done in general. He really was that one person she always wanted to have in her life and the fact that this dumbass Dating Show was the reason because they met, was hilarious.

Two minutes later, Clarke found herself in warm water and covered with bubbles in the tub. She was leaning back with her feet placed on the base of the bathtub, the clipboard in her hand. She clipped a paper to it so she was able to sketch the setting she was in without getting the picture wet. She was trying to catch everything from the counter to the little details like the blossoms of orchids on the floor. It had been a while since she took time to sketch again and honestly, she missed it. She didn’t have the time to do it considering all the drama that was going on and that the game was a higher priority than her feeling comfortable. She had only missed the Truth Booth once because she had been asleep.

Clarke smiled to herself as she kept drawing, remembering that Octavia and Lincoln were a perfect match. She truly was happy for them. She knew how much her friend wanted to be in a healthy relationship and she believed that Lincoln was the right guy for her. It being confirmed by the experts of the show only made it better. She wondered who her perfect match might be.

In the same moment, the door was pulled open and Clarke teared her eyes away from the paper, to the door. She began to smile when she saw him and he returned it immediately, closing the door behind him. He then made his way over to her and with every step he took, she got more and more nervous and she had no idea why.

Clarke tilted her chin up to be able to look at his face when he stopped in front of the tub. He crooked his head to the side in response, smiling lightly.

"Hey," Bellamy said and Clarke wanted to respond, but couldn’t when he leaned down and kissed her briefly. Even though it surprised her a little, she kissed him back, placing her hands at the edge of the tub.

They didn’t kiss for long. Bellamy pulled back seconds later and Clarke didn’t know if this was a blessing or a curse because she now had to thank him for all of the work he put into doing this for her but she didn’t know how. Words wouldn’t be enough.

"Hey," she replied softly.

"Mind me joining you?" Bellamy asked her while taking a few steps back. Clarke shook her head and fixed her eyes on the food in front of her.

She didn’t even know when she became this shy around him but she really couldn’t handle this. Meanwhile, Bellamy was his usual self and acted as if none of this was a big deal, but it was for her. There was nothing she could say to make him understand that. Of course not.

So, instead of keeping her gaze on him, she took the clipboard and her pencil again, stealing some glances here and there. She didn’t want to actively watch him undress, but she definitely did bring her eyes to him two or three times. That wasn’t forbidden anyway.

"Clarke."  

"Mhm," the blonde turned her head around to face him and tried hard to keep her gaze on his. It almost worked, but then Bellamy’s gaze got way too intense for her to handle and she had to sweep her eyes away from his face. She really tried hard not to look down, but her eyes betrayed her anyway. For a brief second, they stopped at his dick but it didn’t go unnoticed by Bellamy.

As soon as she brought her eyes back to his face, she could see how a light smirk made its way on his face and she started blushing. She could feel it and she knew that he was able to see it too, so she fixed her gaze on the food in front of her again.

"You didn’t have to do this, you know." Clarke told him.

Bellamy scoffed a little. "But I wanted to," Clarke smiled to herself before she leaned back again. "So, where do I go?"

The blonde frowned and faced him again. It took her a bit longer to understand what he meant but when she did, she shook her head and pointed to the spot across from her.

"There. I want to draw you."  

Bellamy did what she said and sat down on the opposite side of the bathtub. Meanwhile, Clarke ripped out a new paper of her sketchbook before she placed it back behind her and clipped it on the clipboard.

"Do I need to keep still now?" he asked her as he reached for a strawberry on one of the plates.

Clarke shook her head, starting to draw at the same time. "No, you don’t. I think I know your face well enough but you’ll have to come closer when I get to your freckles."

"Sure thing." Bellamy responded.

She had to smile because now everything felt normal again. She didn’t feel uncomfortable at all thanks to Bellamy being himself. It was always easy for her to relax around him. She couldn’t believe that she had been a bit nervous at first; she should’ve known that it was unnecessary.

"I want them to be perfect." she murmured to herself as quietly as possible but Bellamy was still able to hear it.   
  
"Someone’s obsessed with my freckles."

Clarke lifted her head from the paper and tilted it to the side, shaking it a little. "I am not. They just… it’s just you," she said, defending herself. "Don’t you like them?"  

Bellamy snorted and wet his hair a bit. "I didn’t use to."  

"What!?" she widened her eyes at him. How could he not like them?

He shrugged his shoulders and reached for another strawberry, this time on her plate. She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway whereupon he sent her a light smirk.

"I didn’t like them. I thought they ruined my face and didn’t fit to me as a person. You know, sassy, confident, _asshole_ and then I have freckles? Just no."  

Clarke shook her head but continued drawing. "You were an idiot."  

"Probably, but I got used to them. I’m not saying I like them, but I can live with them and I think it kinda pairs well with my skin tone. Represents my ethnicity."

The blonde looked at him for a second and smiled. "Yeah. That’s true." He returned her smile and again, she had to look away. She hated that he could make her this shy within seconds. She never had been like this and she should probably wonder why, but she pushed it away and continued drawing. "What else can you tell me about your past?"

"What can _you_ tell me about yours? We always talk about me and it’s your birthday. I prefer talking about you."

Clarke stopped sketching for a second before she nodded and kept going. "There isn’t much to say," she started softly. "I lived in Miami my entire life with my mom and dad. We never had problems with money or anything, so I had an… easy life I would say, not to disrespect you. Uh… well when I was sixteen my dad, Jake, died and it destroyed me because I didn’t know why and it came out of nowhere and-"

"You don’t need to talk about that, Clarke."  

She looked up from her paper and kept her gaze on him for a few seconds before she turned around a bit and placed the clipboard with  the pencil on top behind her. She then stepped out of the tub and Bellamy’s quizzed expression didn’t go unnoticed by her, but she didn’t care. Clarke just pushed the bath board further away from him and climbed inside the tub again, sitting down between his legs and leaned back, her spine against his chest. She put her feet on the base of the tub again, resting her head on his shoulder.

Bellamy sighed but wrapped one of his arms around her waist while the other rested on the edge of the tub.

"Comfortable enough?" he asked her and she nodded.

"Yeah, " she replied before clearing her throat. "Anyway, my dad died when I was sixteen which really surprised me because he always seemed to be in good shape. I asked my mom almost every day why he died, why it had to be him, but she always avoided the questions. One day, one of our ‘fights’ escalated and she screamed at me in the middle of it, saying that I should mind my own business."  

"Clarke," she shook her head.

"It’s fine, I’m okay." Bellamy reached for her hand under the water and locked their fingers together. She squeezed his hand one time before she continued. "Uhm… right. We didn’t talk for a long time after that and I started searching through their offices in our house whenever my mom was at the hospital. At first, I never found anything and it made me so angry because I knew that my dad couldn’t have died that easily. So, I made my way to the hospital when my mom was out of the country and searched in her office there. And guess what I found."  

She wasn’t waiting for an answer and Bellamy didn’t say anything, either. She just sighed and closed her eyes before she continued.

"My dad had cancer. He had cancer and my mom never told me. I found out when I was eighteen. It took me two years to figure out what happened to my dad. My mom hid his illness for two fucking years and didn’t mind telling me about it. When I confronted her, she said it was to protect me, but that was bullshit."

Bellamy cleared his throat. "Can I say something?"  

Clarke laughed and turned her head a bit, titling her chin up so she was able to look at him. As soon as he noticed that she did, he faced her and raised one eyebrow of his. She smiled and nodded, motioning that he could.

"Bullshit, indeed."  

The blonde snorted and laid her head back in the crook of his neck. There wasn’t anything else to tell him. He knew that her mom wanted her to go to med school and she told him already that she decided to live in New York on her own.

So for the next few minutes they stayed silent, until Bellamy squeezed her hand and shifted underneath her.

Clarke sat up and turned her torso towards him, confusion written all over her face. He just smirked and stepped out of the tub as he walked to where he left his clothes.

"I got something for you."  

"What?" she questioned. How in hell was there anything else he could have for her when he already did all of this? Was this guy even real? She truly didn’t deserve any of this but he really treated her like a fucking princess.

"Bellamy," she said warningly. "Don’t give it to me. I don’t want it."  

He looked at her over his shoulder and grinned again, shaking his head before he fumbled through his stuff again.

"Yeah, but I don’t care and I’ll give it to you."

Clarke groaned and rolled her eyes before she reached for her sponge and threw it against his ass. Bellamy turned around and crooked his head to the side.

"Really?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "You have a nice ass."

Bellamy rolled his eyes but laughed lightly as he walked over to the tub again, holding something behind his back. Clarke was about to stand up but he already climbed back into the tub and sat back down. She turned around to him, sitting on her own legs now and even though she didn’t want anything else from him, she was too excited to see what he had for her.

"Give it to me." she said, pulling on his arm that was hanging down from the edge of the tub.

He shook his head. "Stop it or I’ll throw it away."  

Clarke tilted her chin at him but let go of his arm, only to cross hers in front of her chest.

"You wouldn’t do that."

"You know I would." Bellamy replied with a smug smirk on his lips.

She rolled her eyes but scooched forward and kissed it off them before leaning back.

"Do I get it now?" she asked as she tried to look as innocent as she could.

"No," Clarke groaned and wanted to reach for his arm again but he pulled her back with his free hand. "What’s the keyword?"  

"Oh my God, you’re such a dork. Stop this nonsense and give me the present."  

Bellamy laughed while shaking his head. "It’s not that easy, princess. But I’ll give you a hint. It’s not a word."

Clarke frowned for a little while not quite understanding what that meant, but as soon as she figured it out she hit his arm. He just quirked one of his brows, smirk growing on his lips again. She rolled her eyes at him before she leaned forward and kissed him more passionate this time.

It didn’t take him long to respond. They weren’t touching each other but Clarke still felt incredibly good while kissing him. She always did, that was nothing new but something was different this time. They kept it slow and Clarke was ready to scoot closer, yet she didn’t when she felt him wrap something around her wrist.   
  
She immediately pulled away and lifted her arm up, looking at her wrist. She blinked a few times while staring at it before she faced Bellamy again who was already looking at her. Clarke parted her lips to say something but she didn’t know what, so she just swept her eyes back to her wrist and smiled lightly to herself.

Bellamy just made her wear a silver bracelet that had two little signs hanging on it; a sun and a moon. She wasn’t quite sure why he picked that one, but it was way too beautiful to care about that now.   
  
Clarke bit her lip and tucked her hair back behind her ear as she kept looking at it. How on Earth was she ever going to thank him for all of this? She truly didn’t deserve him and she had to figure out a way to show him how much this meant to her.

"You like it?" Bellamy asked her softly and she nodded because, God, yes she liked it. She loved it. All of this; that everything was fine again with their friends; that she went on a date with him, and that he was the one who made her feel this good on her birthday. She never had one like this that was just about her and nobody else, that was dedicated to her and her only. She really never felt as good as she did right now.

So she just went for it and held Bellamy’s face in her hands, placing little kisses on his lips. At one point, it got harder for her to do so because he started smiling against her lips and pulled his head back.

"Tranquilo, Clarke."  

The blonde just shook her head and let go of his face before she started playing with his curls.

"Well," she said smiling lightly. "Thank you." Bellamy shook his head and was ready to say something but she just cut him off. "No, really. I don’t even know how to thank you for everything you’ve done for me until now. I’ll have to figure out how I’ll make up for this…"

Bellamy scoffed and tilted his head to the side. "You don’t need to do anything, Clarke."  

"Yes I have and you can’t stop me." she said while pulling on his hair. "And I still have to punish you for giving me a hickey."  

Clarke saw him sweep his eyes over to her collarbone before he started laughing. She pulled on his hair again, making him hiss one time instead of laughing. There was nothing funny about it.

"You want to punish me for it? How?" Bellamy asked as he grabbed both of her wrists and brought them to her chest. She only raised one eyebrow at him whereupon he smirked. "Do I know how?"  

"Perhaps…"

Bellamy just shook his head as he let go of her wrists and leaned back against the tub. "Alright."  

Clarke smiled to herself before she followed him and placed her lips on top of his. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. Still, she couldn’t stop smiling. The day didn’t even start yet, but it was already one of her favorite days ever.

And she knew that she would never forget it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there isn't much to say other than me being excited for your reactions to this chapter (comments) and to post the next chapter on wednesday! 
> 
> i hope you liked today's chapter and that you can't wait to see how clarke's birthday will end... love you guys!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy my favorite chapter!

11.45 am.

Bellamy had no idea for how long they stayed in the tub, but when Clarke climbed out of it, he knew that the time they had alone was over. He wasn’t sad about it, not really. He had been able to make her happy with what he had planned for her and she liked the bracelet; she probably even loved it. He was surprised that she didn’t question his choice because of the sun and the moon. Perhaps, she only forgot about asking him when he was making sure that she liked it.

He was still lying in the bathtub, following every movement she made with his eyes. They swept up and down her naked body. Bellamy started smirking when he saw the hickey on her back he had made just ten minutes ago. He wanted to make a comment about it, but she covered herself with a bathrobe, so he decided against it. Instead, he got out of the tub, leaned over it, and drained the water. He was just about to get up again when a towel hit the back of his neck.

Bellamy turned around and looked at the towel on the floor in front of his feet before he lifted his head and tilted it to the side, meeting Clarke’s gaze through the mirror. She had her back turned towards him but he could still see her trying to hide a smile through it. He shook his head, his own smile on his face before he reached for the towel and wrapped it around his waist. After that, he walked over to the counter Clarke was standing in front of and stopped right behind her, placing his hands on the countertop next to her body.

Clarke took a little step backwards and leaned her back against his chest, her hands in the pockets of her robe. They kept holding eye contact through the mirror until she fixed her gaze on the countertop. It didn’t surprise him. She had been behaving a bit shy when he walked into the bathroom and two or three times more. He wasn’t sure why, probably because he overreacted and did too much for her, but he couldn’t stop himself. The store he went to had too many things that he thought would go with the theme he had chosen, the bracelet was the main present, and the mix of flowers was a bonus. God, he really exaggerated. It only made sense that she was reacting like this.

Bellamy pulled the robe down a bit, exposing the skin on her shoulder before he placed a kiss on it.

"You feel better?" he asked, meeting her eyes through the mirror again when she lifted hers from the counter.

She nodded and smiled at him, just slightly. "Yeah. Thank you."  

"You don’t-"

Clarke turned around to him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she shook her head.

"Stop saying that. I want to thank you for doing this and I always will. I hope you keep in mind that I’ll never forget that you did this for me. Not once in my life has someone done so much for me only because I had a birthday, so," she swept her eyes down for a second but he was still able to see her chewing on her lower lip. She was nervous again. God, this was too adorable.

She looked him in the eyes again with an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite read. Bellamy wasn’t sure if it was only happiness and her being thankful, but there was something else he couldn’t identify. He just pushed the thought away and waited for her to finish what she wanted to say. Which she did.

"I don’t know, you…" she trailed off again however, she didn’t break the eye contact. "Uh, know how to make me smile, I guess. That’s why I want to thank you for… everything."  

And that was what made him smile because all he wanted was for her to be was be happy and feel comfortable again. He knew that the past few days were bad for her, that’s why he did all of this, mostly, so her thanking him for making sure that she was fine was kind of unnecessary in his opinion, but he wouldn’t stop her either.

Bellamy nodded and kissed her briefly before taking a step back. Clarke’s arms fell next to her sides and she seemed a bit sad about it. He had no idea if she was faking that emotion, playing with him, or if she really was sad. 

He cocked his head to the side and raised one of his brows as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Can I help you?"  

Clarke threw her head back for a second as she whimpered and walked over to him, placing her hands on his forearms.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked, running her hands up and down his arms.

Bellamy laughed and shook his head due to the way she was behaving. He wasn’t laughing at her or anything, he just thought that it was cute. Since he wanted to tell her that way too often already and never did, he thought now was the perfect time to do so.

"You know that you’re pretty adorable, right?"  

Clarke didn’t say anything, just kept looking him into his eyes but she didn’t need to anyway. The pink flush that kissed her cheeks was enough for him to know how she felt right now. She let go of his arms and folded hers in front of her breasts.

"Well, you’re adorable, too," she replied.

And Bellamy had to laughed.

He knew that she was being serious. For sure she meant what she said but it was still weird hearing her say it. He shook his head with a smile on his face before he opened his arms, inviting her into them.

"Come here," he said softly.

Clarke walked closer to him again and as soon as she was standing right in front of him, he wrapped his arms around the small of her back. She turned her head towards him and closed her eyes whereupon he kissed the top of her head. Meanwhile, she snuggled her arms around his back and took a little step closer, making him smile.

Bellamy knew that she was tired. They were in the tub for a long time with warm water and after Clarke decided to thank him for everything he did, he expected her to be exhausted. He didn’t find it bad or anything. Sure, it was her birthday and her friends wanted to spend time with her, but she had been drinking a lot of alcohol last night and didn’t even have a proper breakfast except for what he gave her.

He rubbed up and down her spine as she started breathing steadily against him. Bellamy sighed and cleared his throat lightly before pulling away. He didn’t want to wake her up or anything and luckily, she was only half asleep. However, if she wanted to get some sleep before meeting up with their friends outside, she should do it now rather than later.

Clarke stepped away from him and smiled lightly before she yawned. She pressed her hand against her mouth and he had to laugh.

"Go get some sleep, Clarke. It’s not like you were sleeping for long anyway," he said, making his way to the door.

"No," she replied as she took her stuff and followed him. "I’m not tired I’ll survive the day."

Bellamy looked at her over his shoulder and raised one of his eyebrows. "Will you?"  

Clarke blinked a few times before she groaned. Bellamy smiled and opened the door for her, taking a step away from it. She walked out of the door but turned around again when she was standing right in front of him.

"You’ll wake me up, right? I don’t want to oversleep."  

He ran his hands through his still wet hair before he nodded. "I’ll try, yeah. But still, set an alarm. I’ll see if I can wake you up in an hour. If I don’t, then you’ll still wake up because of the alarm."  

Clarke nodded and stayed in front of him for a few minutes. Bellamy had no idea why she did that, considering that she had been tired already, so he tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows for a bit. She just shook her head and hugged him for a few seconds. He returned it easily but he really wanted to make sure that she understood what he said.

"What will you do?"  

The blonde groaned and pulled away before hitting his arm playfully. "I hate you."

"No," he replied with a smirk on his face. "You don’t and you know that."  

She rolled her eyes then turned around and walked out of the bathroom. He looked after her until she went into their bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Bellamy smiled to himself as he closed the bathroom door and turned back around, looking at the water that was on the floor next to the tub and swept his eyes over the whole room itself. He sighed. He should’ve known that all of this would backfire on him. Now, he had to clean up the whole girl’s bathroom as far as he could because he still had to bake a cake with Raven for Clarke. Luckily, they already knew how they wanted it to look and what they would do with it.

He shook his head before he begun cleaning the bathroom. He had set it all up, so he was the one who had to clean up the mess too.

# # # # # # # # # #

13.30 pm.

Bellamy didn’t wake Clarke up.

She was pulled out of her sleep by the dumb alarm clock on her nightstand and for a minute, she thought that she would just lay around on her stomach and continue sleeping. Then again, she knew that her friends wanted to do something with her, especially after she found a note on her nightstand that told her where and when they would meet up.

So after Clarke got dressed, wearing a simple dark green-ish dress with her hair straightened and left down, bracelet around her wrist, she walked downstairs and made her way towards the garden. It was the first time that she would spend time with her friends there since they had been without her due to all the drama. She hoped that things wouldn’t be awkward with her being there this time. She knew that thinking so was stupid in the first place because until now, everything had been fine again, but still. It was their spot and now she would be sitting there with them. She shook her head. She really had to stop being this negative, otherwise, the day wouldn’t end up good.

The blonde pulled the door open to the patio and was immediately greeted by some of her friends. Harper, Emori, and Maya were already sitting on one of the lounges while Miller, Monty, and Jasper were blowing up flamingos and pineapples floats for the swimming pool. She walked over to the girls and sat down across from Maya and Harper, next to Emori. The brunette smiled at her before she pulled her into a hug.

"Happy Birthday, Clarke."

Clarke smiled and hugged Emori back for a few seconds then pulled back. "Thanks," she replied sending her a light smile.

"Wow, can’t believe I really get to celebrate your birthday with you. This show is truly the best thing that ever happened in my life." Emori said, shaking her head at the same time.

Clarke laughed and laid her head on her friend’s shoulder. "Don’t say that," she told Emori as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "It’s just a birthday and I’m not that special."  

"Uhm, excuse me? Did you just say you’re not that special?" Her friend questioned perplexed, pushing her away from her and Clarke had to laugh again.

"What’s wrong with that?" Emori hit her arm and she screamed. "Emori!"  

"You say you’re not special!? Who was it that got the whole bathroom set up for a romantic morning bath!?"

Clarke rolled her eyes and sat up again, turning towards her friend. "No, I’m not special and it wasn’t romantic either."

Emori raised up one of her eyebrows and leaned against the armrest of the couch. "It wasn’t romantic? You want to tell me those flowers on the floor weren’t romantic?"

She shook her head. "No," her friend opened her mouth to say something but Clarke didn’t let her. "And you didn’t even see much, so you don’t know what you’re talking about."  

The brunette snorted before she tilted her head to the side. "Who was it anyway? Nobody told me. And it’s the first time I see you again after Octavia dragged us all out of the bathroom."  

"It was-"

"Bellamy!"  

Clarke spun her head around and fixed her gaze on Bellamy who just walked out of the house. He nodded his chin at Miller and made his way over to him. They did something weird with their hands as a greeting (she thought it was called a hand wrestler, but she wasn’t sure) before they pulled each other into a half hug. He was wearing some black jeans combined with a black shirt, glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.

Emori snapped her fingers in front of her face, making her turn her face to her friend again. "Huh?"  

"You’re staring," the brunette said with a grin on her lips.

Clarke rolled her eyes, yet she smiled anyway, but the way Emori was looking at her, grin still on her face, made her blush. So she grabbed a pillow and pressed it against her own face, laying down on her back. Emori just laughed and placed Clarke’s legs in her lap.

"Griffin, I think you are in love."  

Clarke sat up, immediately and hit her friend’s face with the pillow. "I’m not."

"Sure." Emori replied while grabbing the pillow out of her hands. "If you’re not, then go over and kiss Monty."

The blonde widened her eyes at friend and shook her head. "I will not."  

"That’s what I thought. You’re in love with B-"

"I’m not! But Monty is currently doing a lot with Sasha and is trying to figure out if they’re a match. I don’t want to ruin that," she explained.

Emori rolled her eyes with a grin on her face before she leaned forward and grabbed her cup from the table. She leaned back against the couch and sipped on her tea while looking at Clarke with one raised eyebrow.

She knew that Emori wouldn’t let it go until she would go over and kiss Monty, but she didn’t want to do it. Not because she thought Bellamy would be jealous or anything; it was because she was aware of how Sasha felt about whatever she had with Monty. They got along pretty well and as far as she knew, her friend already slept once or twice in his bed. She really didn’t want to be the reason why things stopped being great between them, but then, again she wasn’t in love with Bellamy. She groaned.

"Fine," Clarke said as she stood up. Emori put the cup in her lap and turned around to be able to see what would happen in a few seconds. "If Sasha is going to be mad at me, I’ll tell her the truth."  

"Mhm, do it."

Clarke rolled her eyes before she walked over to Monty. He was having a conversation with both Miller and Bellamy right now. They were standing close to the edge of the pool, Miller and Bellamy with their backs to her while Monty was in front of them. She didn’t want to do this, not when most of her friends were around, but she couldn’t do anything about it. There was no way she would let Emori win.

So she stepped into the free space between Bellamy and Miller and smiled at Monty. They stopped their conversation and she could feel how her friends were looking at her while Monty returned her smile easily.

She cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can we talk, Monty?" she asked carefully.

"Sure," her friend answered and motioned her to walk over to the other side of the pool.

She nodded herself when Monty made his way to where he pointed and Clarke wanted to do the same but when Bellamy grabbed her by the wrist as she passed him, she stopped and turned her head to him, meeting his gaze immediately.

"You alright?" he questioned softly.

Clarke nodded in response and smiled at him. God, he could make her smile so easily and he wasn’t even trying, but him making sure that she was fine was just adorable. Sure, he was taking care of all of their friends, but it still did something to her that she couldn’t quite figure out.

"I’m good," she responded as he let go of her wrist. He winked at her before he turned back to Miller and continued their conversation from before.

She wasn’t even realizing that she didn’t make a move and just kept staring at Bellamy but then Miller swept his eyes to her, raising one of his brows. Clarke shook her head and sent him a tender smile before she turned around on her heels and walked over to Monty. Something was wrong with her and it bothered her. She had to find out what it was later today.

Clarke reached Monty in seconds. He had a smile on his face, yet she noticed that he was slightly confused which was understandable.

"How can I help you?" he asked her.

The blonde chewed on her lip for a while, considering all the options she had. Telling him about what Emori said was out of the game. Monty already said that Bellamy and her acted like a couple so he would probably agree with what Emori had said. Just kissing him was weird too. She only had to turn her head a little, then she would be able to see half of her friends on the other side of the pool which meant that they could look over easily. That meant she somehow had to give Monty a hint but without really saying something.

She sighed before she shrugged her shoulders and took a step closer.

"You said you’re trying to figure out which person belongs to who, right? As a perfect match."  

Monty nodded and his facial expression relaxed. "Yeah. It’s harder than I thought, but eventually I’ll have figured it out. Why are you asking?"  

Clarke swept her eyes to her friends for a second. When she saw that everyone, except for Emori of course, was busy doing something else, she decided to make it quick.

"I just think that Sasha isn’t your match. And I know Bellamy isn’t mine, so perhaps we are one."

Monty frowned as he shook his head slightly. "What. No, Clarke-"

She didn’t let him finish the sentence. Instead, she took a few steps closer until she was standing right in front of him and gave Monty a quick peck on the lips. She walked backwards after that, sweeping her eyes to the other side of the pool. Emori was shaking her head and she knew that it wasn’t enough for her friend but she couldn’t do anything about it when Monty spoke again.

"What was _that_?" he questioned, confusion written all over his face.

Clarke knew that skirting around the truth wouldn’t work with Monty, so she just sighed and raked her fingers through her hair.

"Emori said I’m in love with Bellamy, but I’m not. She told me that she would believe me if I would kiss you." she explained.

Monty didn’t say anything for a good minute before he shook his head, laughing lightly.

"I don’t know which one of the things is worse: that you say you’re not in love with him, or that Emori thought you kissing someone else would show that you aren’t in love."

Clarke opened her mouth to disagree and say that she really wasn’t, but then Raven and Octavia walked out of the house, telling everyone that they should sit down for the cake. She turned her head back to Monty, who was now grinning at her.

"I’m sorry that I put you into this situation." she said.

And she really meant it. Sure, Monty didn’t make this about him, but she shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Not when Sasha was around. Monty wasn’t a cheater like Finn but Sasha probably saw her kissing him anyway and that would cause drama between all of her friends and her again. She really didn’t want this to happen.

"It’s fine, Clarke. You did what you… thought was right but you didn’t kiss me for real anyway. Only shows that you don’t want to kiss anybody else than Bellamy."

Clarke parted her lips to say something to his comment but he already made his way to the other side, leaving her alone. Her friends were a fucking joke. Everyone was making such comments about her and Bellamy’s friendship. They thought it was a relationship and that feelings were involved, but it wasn’t like that, and she was glad about it because Bellamy was her best friend and she didn’t want anything to change between them. Sure, having sex was a bonus they shouldn’t have, considering that they were supposed to find their perfect match, but except from her friends, nobody knew anyway.

Perhaps that was the problem.

She groaned and made her way back to the terrace where her friends were all standing around the table, waiting for her. The cake was already placed on it, at the very end of the table, so she stopped right in front of it. Raven was to her left and Octavia to her right. The latter had a polaroid camera in her hand and it made Clarke frown.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" she questioned.

The brunette looked at her for a few seconds before she grinned and took a picture of the cake which hadn’t had any candles on it yet. It was a white one and had _‘Happy Birthday, Clarke’_ written on it, surrounded by each one of her friends’ names. They guys in blue and the girls in red while her own name was written in rainbow colours.

Clarke smiled and turned her face to Raven who placed candles on the cake after Octavia took the picture.

"What kind of cake is that?" she whispered to her friend.   
  
Raven smiled as she lit up the candles, keeping her gaze fixed on the cake. "Lemon with frosting. It is rainbow-ish from the inside."

Clarke laughed, knowing exactly why her friends decided to decorate the cake the way they did. She truly didn’t deserve any of them and she would never regret coming to this show in the first place. It didn’t matter what happened before this week started. It was the past and she was happy about the fact that she could spend her birthday with her friends. She wanted to live in the present and that’s what she did.

When they started singing for her, she was near tears again. This day truly was the best day ever and she had to thank every single one of them at the end of the day. Starting with Bellamy, of course. He was standing on the other end of the table between Murphy and Shaw and Clarke tried hard not to look at him while all of her friends were singing for her because he had that big goofy smile on his face that did weird things to her chest and that wasn’t what she needed right now.

So, instead of looking in his direction, she turned her face to Raven again who was patting her shoulder after they stopped singing.

"Make a wish and blow the candles, Clarkey."  

"Obviously not the way you’re probably thinking of." Murphy shouted and she let out a snort. Usually, she would’ve been offended or had rolled her eyes, but she was in a good mood so she let that comment slide.

"Alright," Clarke said before leaning over the cake a bit and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure what to wish for in the beginning but then something crossed her mind and she smiled to herself. She then blew out all the candles at once and gathered claps from her friends.

"Okay, cake time! Grab a plate from over there and get in position." Octavia yelled, trying to handle the whole situation but nobody was listening to her and went straight over to the cake, each one of them trying to get a piece.

Meanwhile, Clarke just shook her head and took a few steps backwards, getting out of the mess before anything could happen. Seeing her friends this carefree and happy made her feel great. She wasn’t sure if she could ever stop smiling again after today.

Emori had cake in her hair and cleavage while Murphy tried to lick it off. Lincoln was sitting on one of the chairs with Octavia in his lap. He was feeding her and she truly looked happy. Raven was arguing with Roan in a little corner next to the table while Maya was talking to Wells who recently joined them. Luna was there too, having a conversation with Sasha and Harper while Jasper and Monty were trying to get onto the flamingos without letting go of their plates. It was a picture she would never forget and she really wanted to take one.

And just in that moment, she heard a click.

Clarke turned her head around to the direction it was coming from and could feel the heat rising in her cheeks when she realized that Bellamy just took a picture of her with Octavia’s camera. He walked over to her, keeping his eyes fixed on the polaroid photograph that was coming out of the camera and stopped right in front of her.

Since she wanted to see it too, she stepped next to him and turned around. Her arm was pressed against his as they waited for it to dry. He didn’t say anything and although she had been freaking out about similar things like that before, she was pretty comfortable now. It could’ve been because it wasn’t quiet around them, or because she got used to being this close to him and being in complete silence.

The blonde thought it wouldn’t change when he started to shake the picture, speeding up the drying process, but then he turned around to her a bit. She tilted her head to the side because she didn’t know what that meant and what she should expect, but his facial expression didn’t change and he kind of looked serious which made her worry again. She hated when he gave her that look, she really did.

"So," Bellamy said as he stopped shaking the polaroid and looked at it. "You kissed Monty, huh."  

_Fuck_. Clarke didn’t notice that he saw her kissing Monty. Bellamy hadn’t been looking into her direction before and after she did, so it surprised her a little bit. Then she realized what was actually happening right now and couldn’t help but grin lightly.

"Mhm," she replied, taking the picture out of his hand to make him look at her, which he did. "Is someone jealous?"  

One of Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up and she was considering if it was because he didn’t expect her saying that or because he was behaving like he usually was. Turned out that it was the latter.

"Perhaps," he said, snatching the polaroid out of her hand as he took a step closer. "I don’t really like the thought of someone else placing their lips on yours."

And that’s when Clarke’s heart dropped. Because _she_ didn’t expect him to say something similar to that. She should’ve known though. Bellamy was just as competitive as her and it made sense that he would say something like this, but she wouldn’t let him win this time. He already won enough.

"Good," she told him while grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to her a bit. "Because I don’t want to kiss anybody other than you, anyway."

The next thing she did was capture his lips with her own, but just briefly. She then tried to take a step backwards but Bellamy wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in for another one. Clarke responded right away, forgetting about her surroundings in the process. It started out as a lazy kiss, him still holding her and her hand still grasping the collar of his shirt. Then Bellamy licked her lower lip, whereupon she parted hers and let him in.

As the kiss grew more passionate, she ran her hand through his messy curls and pulled on them a little bit. It released a groan coming from the back of Bellamy’s throat and that’s when she realized what they were actually doing. To her luck, someone yelled their names, making them pull apart before anything else could happen.

While Clarke felt as if they crossed a line, Bellamy seemed to be okay with what just happened since he went back to talking to her casually, as though this was something they did more often.

"Here," he handed her the picture which she slowly took out of his hands. "If you don’t frame it yourself, I’ll."

Clarke snorted and nodded, smiling to herself before she lifted her head a bit to be able to look him in the eyes.

"Thank you," she said.

Bellamy grinned lightly as he turned her around and made her walk over to her friends, his hand on the small of her back, who were now where she had been before with Monty on the grass. They were all sitting or lying on the floor, enjoying each other’s company while eating cake. Clarke liked seeing her friends like this so much that she wanted to take a picture.

Clarke snatched the camera out of Bellamy’s hands and walked over to her friends a bit faster, hearing him laugh behind her. She just ignored him and stopped when she reached the others and motioned them to get up.

"Come on, I want to take a picture of all of us," she said, excited tone in her voice.

Jasper jumped up from where he had been sitting and walked to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"You know that you have to be in the picture, right? So, you can’t do it," he explained.

Clarke groaned and swept her eyes around the garden area. As if God wanted them to take one, Costia walked out of the mansion and into the garden. Apparently, Octavia had the same thought as her because her friend waved Costia over to them. The girl was confused at first but made her way to the gang anyway, stopping in front of Clarke.

"You have a birthday?" The blonde nodded and Costia smiled at her before pulling her into a hug. "God, I didn’t know. Happy Birthday, Clarke!" she pulled back again and tilted her head to the side. "Low key sad that we don’t spend time with each other anymore."

And it was true. When Clarke was with Lexa, she spent a lot of time with her friends, too. That’s why she easily got along well with Luna and Costia while Echo was still a mystery for her. She didn’t see her often and when she did, she always sent her a glare and she had no idea why. But it wasn’t like she wanted to be friends with her anyway, so it didn’t bother her.

Clarke smiled at Costia and nodded. "Thanks and I know, we had a lot of fun, actually. I don’t mind you spending time with us."

Harper threw her arm around her neck, just like Jasper did some minutes ago and smiled at Costia.

"Uhm, yes, you definitely can. You’re cute but Lexa is not allowed around us. For Clarkey."

Clarke rolled her eyes and took Harper’s arm away from her. "It’s fine," she replied, smiling a bit.

"Do we take a picture now or what!?" Roan shouted impatiently.

The blonde knew that he still wasn’t a fan of this whole family thing and even though they all got back together, he was still behaving distant with her and didn’t make any comments about her friendship with Bellamy anymore. It was weird, because she already got used to that, but as long as he was acting normal around their friends, she had no problem.

Clarke faced Costia again as she handed her the camera.

"You can take more if you want but it takes a bit until they come out and dry. Just lay them on the grass then. Take three or four," she told her.

Costia nodded with a smile on her face and motioned her to go stand next to her friends already. Clarke mouthed her a ‘thank you’ before she jogged over to them, standing between Octavia and Raven.

"Wow," the latter said, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. Clarke really asked herself why everyone did that. "And I thought you would go to your boyfriend over there."  

Clarke rolled her eyes and hit the back of Raven’s head. "He’s not my boyfriend."

"Interesting. So, why don’t you go over then when he’s not your boyfriend and you are just friends?" she continued.

"Can you guys shut up. Costia will take the picture now," Octavia hissed next to her and Clarke had to laugh because it was the first time that she didn’t participate in a conversation about Bellamy and her being a thing and if she was being honest, she was glad about it.

So, instead of continuing her talk with Raven, she turned her head to Costia and the camera and smiled, probably one of the truest smiles she had on her lips until this week. She was where she wanted to be and there wasn’t anything else she wished for. Well, there was and she hoped that her wish would come true.

The second picture they took was more of a funny one, though. Everyone was making grimaces or changed their positions. Clarke was now on Murphy’s back, holding up her hand and making a peace sign while sticking her tongue out. She was surprised that he came to her first and suggested taking her on his back, but it was Murphy after all. She liked the friendship she had with him. He was one of the funniest out of the group but he could be serious too and that’s what she liked about him.

So after she jumped down from his back, they made their own handshake which they would always do from now on whenever they would greet each other or one of them said something incredibly funny.

The third and last picture surprised Clarke a bit but then again, they were participating at a Dating Show, so she should’ve known. Sasha absolutely wanted to take a ‘perfect match’ picture where each one of them gets together with the person they think was their match. For some, it was easier, like Emori and Murphy, Octavia and Lincoln, Maya and Wells, or Miller and Jackson. Then there were some people who were a bit unsure but eventually got together anyway like Raven and Roan, Harper and Jasper, and Zeke and Luna, which meant that at the end, there was only her and Bellamy left.

Clarke still didn’t believe that they were a match, but she wouldn’t complain about being on the picture with him by her side. So she just walked over to him and grabbed his hand before pulling him into the middle of her friends.

"Really?" he asked. "Right in the middle of the picture?"  

The blonde laughed and stopped when she was standing across from Costia and turned around to him, only to see him looking at her already with one lifted eyebrow.

"Yes, really. I’m the birthday... " she trailed off and smiled before she continued the sentence, "princess, after all."  

Bellamy rolled his eyes but grinned anyway. He was about to say something but then someone screamed and she spun her head around. Octavia and Emori were both screaming at each other when the latter came running out of the house with the two pink balloons Bellamy bought her. She didn’t even notice that her friend left for a few seconds, but she still liked the fact that she went to get those because the pictures didn’t have anything else included in it other than her and her friends.

Emori placed them behind Bellamy and her before she swept her eyes between the both of them.

"This is a mistletoe. You have to kiss," she demanded before turning around and walking over to Murphy who was already waiting for her.

"Alright! I’ll take the picture," Costia shouted before starting the countdown, "in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" 

Before she even realized what was happening, Bellamy cradled her jaw and caught her lips with his own, kissing her slow and passionate. It surprised Clarke at first that he really just did what Emori told them to, but right now, she couldn’t care less. She just grabbed the hem of his shirt for leverage as she got on her tiptoes so she could kiss him back more easily.

"Got three pictures! They’re drying now. Who does the camera belong to?" Costia said, but Clarke wasn’t listening. She just ignored what was happening around her and apparently Bellamy did too because he let go off her jaw and wrapped his arm around the small of her back, pulling her flat against him.

"It’s mine, though." _Octavia_.

"Ew, mom and dad, get a room!" Jasper shouted, making Bellamy grin against Clarke’s lips.

She pulled away and took a few steps away from him, clearing her throat at the same time.

"Monty was right when he said you act like a couple."  

"Shut up, Murphy." Bellamy told him before making his way over to Costia and took the pictures off the ground, shaking them to dry.

Clarke just smiled to herself then walked to Emori and hit her arm. "This is your fault."

Emori looked at her before laughing while shaking her head. "No, Clarke. This is on you."  

The blonde rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. There wasn’t anything she could say and if she was truthful with herself, she didn’t want to either. Everything was fine right now and she wanted nothing to be different. She couldn’t thank God more than she already had for blessing her with friends like hers. It didn’t matter to her that they were at a Dating Show and that in six weeks they would be apart from each other again, because right now she felt at home.

She felt at home with them and would always be. It didn’t matter where they were or where they would be. She knew that she could trust any of them and they would find a way to get back together after the show would end. That was for sure.

But now, she wanted to enjoy the last hours of her birthday with her friends, her _family,_ as best as she could and that’s what she did.

# # # # # # # # # #

11.45 pm.

Clarke was sitting on the bed, her spine resting against the headboard. She had her legs angled, feet on the sheets and all the pictures that they took today on her knees. Octavia made the right choice with bringing the polaroid camera with her even though they weren’t allowed to. She only wished that she knew about her friend’s camera earlier so she could’ve taken a picture of the bathroom and the things Bellamy did for her.

She turned her head around and took a look at the bouquet of flowers that was now in a vase, standing on her nightstand. She smiled lightly to herself before she turned her attention back to the pictures in front of her. There were a lot of them. She couldn’t even decide which one she liked most.

One of the pictures had just her and the other girls on it. Octavia, Sasha, and Maya were standing in the pool at the edge of it while Raven, Emori, Harper, and her were sitting behind them. She herself had her head placed on Raven’s shoulder and all of them were smiling into the camera. The sun was just at the right place, giving the whole picture a nice light.

Clarke smiled and placed it a bit further away from her before she picked another one up. That one didn’t contain her. It was just a picture of Octavia and Lincoln. Her friend was sitting on his lap, holding up the fork with cake on it. Lincoln had his mouth open and was looking into Octavia’s eyes while she was looking back into his, smile on her face. It was already a bit darker in this picture, probably taken around 8 pm.

She placed it next to the other one she had put away a few minutes ago and held up a third one that included her again. She was standing in front of a wall in the garden with Murphy next to her. While he was looking away, she was looking straight into the camera, blowing a party whistle. This one was taking at the golden hour so it was a pretty nice one, perhaps one of her favourites.

The last picture she picked up from her knees was one of her and Bellamy. They were lying on the flamingo that Monty and Miller blew up at the beginning of the day. Bellamy had been on his back, only wearing his swim trunks while she had been lying next to him on her stomach, wearing a blue bikini. She was kissing his cheek in the picture Jasper took a few meters away from them. Again, it had been taken at the time of the golden hour and it looked amazing.

Clarke smiled again. She would definitely try to find a way to get more of them so everyone could have a copy of the pictures they were in. As soon as she would be back home she would put all of them up against her wall. She planned on dedicating one in her room to her friends because they deserved it. They were the best in the world and she would never forget about the times they spent here.

The moment the door got pulled open, the blonde lifted her head from the picture and turned her head towards the door.

It was Bellamy.

He closed the door behind him as quietly as possible since most of their roommates were already asleep. Clarke smiled at him which he easily returned. She scooted a bit more to her side of the bed and picked up all the pictures, making space for him to lie down.

"Hey," he said quietly as he got under the blanket. "You good?"

Clarke nodded and waited for him to sit down next to her before she handed him the pictures.

"I want to get copies of those, so each one of our friends has them." she explained.

Bellamy took the pictures out of her hand and tilted his head to the side as he looked at every picture for a brief second, taking in those he was in a little bit longer. Clarke swept her eyes from his face to the pictures two or three times then decided to just get closer and place her head on his shoulder. If it annoyed him, he didn’t say anything and just kept looking at the pictures until there was only one left in his hand. The last group picture they took.

"Would make sense. You’re not in all of them but I guess you want to keep them anyway?" Bellamy asked her as he turned his head and looked down at her.

Clarke tilted her chin up a bit to meet his gaze before she nodded. "That’s the plan, yeah."  

"Well," he said while placing the pictures on his nightstand. "We could go to our store next week and see if there’s a way to get copies? Pretty sure that should be possible there."  

The blonde sat up correctly and turned towards him. "That’s brilliant."  

"I don’t know if you guys are aware of how loud you are, but I don’t care about your secret date. Go to sleep." Murphy growled.

Bellamy snorted before he faced her again. "Ready to end the day?"

Clarke nodded. Sure, she wanted her birthday to last a little longer, especially after the day really made her feel good again. She had no cramps, none of her friends got into an argument, and if they did, it was only jokingly. The cake was amazing and luckily, there was still some left of it. She had to get up as early as possible tomorrow so she would be able to get a big piece of it before Jasper, Monty, and Murphy would wake up.

She turned off the lamp on her nightstand and laid down sideways, facing Bellamy. He just took his glasses off and placed them on his nightstand before he switched the light and laid down himself. Clarke couldn’t really tell how he was lying right now because it was way too dark in the room. She shouldn’t care about it, though. She would just close her eyes and go to sleep but she hadn’t been sleeping on her side of the bed for a long time, so it was weird.

"Bellamy?" she whispered.

"Mhm?"

Actually, Clarke didn’t know what to say. There was no way she would ask him if they could cuddle that would be… awkward, but just scooting over without knowing how he was lying wasn’t the better option either.

She sighed and sat up before she tapped her hand around until she found the light switch of her lamp and turned it on. After that, she turned her head around and found Bellamy lying sideways to her, furrowing his brows. He parted his lips to say something but Zeke was faster.

"Whoever that is, turn the fucking light off."  

"You guys are so annoying why am I even friends with you." Harper said throwing her pillow against Zeke’s head.

Clarke tried to keep in her laughter as she bit on her lower lip. Bellamy’s just curved and tilted his chin at the lamp on her nightstand.

"Turn it off before they’ll come over and try to kill us."

The blonde smiled at him then leaned over to the nightstand before turning the light off. She hadn’t even moved yet when Bellamy wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down, making her squeak.

"Oh my god, shut the fuck up," Murphy said aloud. Others started groaning or growling too, showing that all they wanted to do was go to sleep.  

Clarke hit Bellamy’s forearm but pressed her back against his chest anyway.

"I hate you, just so you know," she said quietly.

Bellamy just laughed into her neck, making her smile. "Yeah, goodnight to you too, Clarke."  

She smiled again before she pulled the covers a little bit higher.

"Night, Bellamy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you loved this one as much as i did! 
> 
> as usual, comments are appreciated! see you guys on sunday, much love to each one of you xo


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who said that after clarke's birthday everything would stay great? right, no one. 
> 
> lil warning...  
> i know that there are people in this fandom (not many) that like a certain character which i personally don't. there are two instances in this chapter where stuff happens BUT i don't think that the character would ACTUAL do something like this. i've written that person in this way so that it can lead to a major plot part of this story. so sorry if that causes any problems or hate. 
> 
> other than that: enjoy this chapter!

Week 4, Day 23 – Saturday. Los Angeles. 9.30 am. 

"Mhm, go." Clarke said in between many little kisses while standing in the doorframe of the bedroom, ready to get under the blanket again.

"Not gonna happen." Bellamy replied, pulling her closer to him.

The blonde whimpered impatiently but leaned in for another kiss anyway.

She was a goner.

That shouldn’t be happening; it really wasn’t good for her or him _or_ the other participants, but then again, she couldn’t stop herself from being close and sharing every minute she had with Bellamy. She had no idea why and probably should figure it out soon, but she didn’t want to because she was okay with how things were right now and she didn’t want to question the decisions she was making.

Bellamy let her go at some point and took a step backwards into the hallway.

"I’m really leaving now. Sure you don’t want to join?" he asked her.

Clarke tilted her head to the side and smiled lightly before shaking her head. "No," she said, stepping further inside the bedroom. "I miss the bed."

"You’ll miss me, too."  

The blonde rolled her eyes and turned around on her heels before closing the door with her feet. She could hear Bellamy laugh from the other side of the door and it made her smile. She couldn’t even describe why she was feeling so good. After the night of her birthday, things really just got better for her and she didn’t know why. She had expected everything to get worse, but apparently she had been wrong.

Clarke was ready to walk over to the bed she shared with Bellamy that was again, full of the pictures they took yesterday (and a new one because he gave her one he took after he finished setting up the bathroom for her) when there was a knock on the door. She frowned but turned around anyway and made her way towards it before she pulled it open.  
  
She blinked a few times and shook her head in confusion.

"Finn?" The older one swept his eyes through the hallway before he fixed his gaze on her again, smiling as if he just saw the sun. "What are you doing here?"  

He pointed to the bedroom behind her and Clarke could imagine what he meant by this. He didn’t need to use his words to ask her if they could talk, but she definitely wouldn’t go inside there with him, so she shook her head and walked out of the bedroom instead, closing the door behind her. She crossed her arms in front of her chest before tilting his chin up to him, motioning Finn to speak first, which he did.

"I wanted to talk to you… about us." he said.

Clarke furrowed her brows a little bit more, not understanding what he wanted to talk about. He cheated on Raven and tried to act like it never happened and didn’t even really apologize for the things that went down.

"You want to talk? Isn’t that a little bit late now?"  

Finn shook his head and took a step closer, but Clarke didn’t want to be closer to him, so she took a step backwards, making sure that she still had some space to get out from standing between the door and the older one whenever something should happen.

He frowned when he saw her taking a step back but ignored it and just took another one closer. Clarke started feeling uncomfortable and wanted to walk back inside the room but nobody was in there either because most of them were already downstairs, eating breakfast or sun bathing themselves for tonight’s Matching Ceremony. She was alone, Bellamy was gone, and Finn was too close to her. At this point, she didn’t even know what to think would happen.

"No, it’s never too late for that, Clarke. I just… I’m sorry that I fucked it up, okay? I should’ve called off things with Raven before I started getting to know you but I didn’t want to break Raven’s heart either." he explained.

Clarke nodded, acting as if she would understood because everything she could think of right now was him being way too close to her. She felt like she was trapped in a dark little room.

"It’s okay, Finn. I forgive you. Can you… let me go sleep now?"

The wrinkle in between his brows didn’t leave, yet a smile made its way on his face.

"I would, yes, but I’m still not done talking, Clarke." He stopped smiling and tucked one of her wisps of hair behind her ear, whereupon the blonde turned her head to the side, pulling her shoulders up.

"Finn… what are you doing…"

He shook his head and took a step backwards. "Sorry. I crossed a line but you’re just… attractive. Especially with your new haircut. Did someone tell you that already?"  

Clarke didn’t know what he wanted to achieve with this, but without thinking twice, she answered his question honestly.

"Yeah, Bellamy did."  

Finn frowned immediately and blinked a few times. "And where is he now?" he asked her, taking a step closer again but then someone pulled him away from her.

Clarke breathed out one time and thanked God for saving her from this douchebag. She took some steps to the side and sent Zeke a light smile which he returned before turning Finn around and shoving him towards the stairs.

"I hope you won’t show up again. It’s one thing that you cheated on Raven, but getting too close to Clarke now is something else. Deal with her not wanting you anymore!"

Finn turned around again and was about to shove Zeke back but the older one just flipped him over again, pushing him back to the stairs.

"Leave it alone, Finn. What’s so wrong with understanding that!?"

"Why do _you_ even care about Clarke? As far as I know, she’s not _your_ perfect match!"  

Clarke swept her eyes between her friend and Finn, realizing what all of this was about. Finn only wanted to talk to her again because he still thought that she was his match. He was jealous of Bellamy and that’s why he came as soon as he left to take his shower. She didn’t know if it disgusted her or if she should feel bad for him because in no way was Finn her perfect match, especially not after what he did to her.

Zeke walked over to her as soon as Finn made his way downstairs and crooked his head to the side.

"Are you okay? Did something happen before I got in between?"

Clarke shook her head and curved her lips slightly. "No, you came just at the right moment. Thank you, really."  

"Don’t thank me, Clarke. I would’ve done that for anyone if they were in your position." The blonde nodded and looked at the door of the guys’ bathroom before she turned her head back to Zeke.

"I’m-"

"Yeah, sure. Just take care of yourself, yeah?" Zeke asked her whereupon she nodded.

He left her soon after that and before anything else could happen again, she made her way towards the bathroom. She stopped right in front of it, unsure if she should knock first or not, but she knew that Bellamy wouldn’t mind, so she just pulled the door open and strolled into the room, closing it behind her quietly.

Clarke turned around and immediately met Bellamy’s gaze who was standing in front of the mirror, now turned towards her. She had to keep herself from laughing, seeing him with foam around his mouth. Actually, she asked herself if this amount of foam was necessary when only having stubble from two or three days without shaving. Bellamy rolled his eyes and turned back, facing the mirror again. Meanwhile, she walked over to the counter and jumped onto it. 

"What’s up?" he asked, keeping his eyes on himself while shaving.

Clarke shrugged her shoulders before she scooted over and situated herself between his legs. Bellamy sent her a quizzed look but she just shook her head and took the razor out of his hands.

"Are you going to tell me why you’re here now even though you said that you wanted to go back to sleep?"

The blonde sighed and shook her head again before she continued his work. Bellamy didn’t say anything and just let her do it, although she knew that he wouldn’t stop asking her. Eventually, she would tell him what happened outside in the hallway but she was still slightly in shock. She didn’t think that Finn would be _that_ kind of a person, but apparently cheating wasn’t the only thing he was doing.

"Tell me if I’m hurting you. I don’t know what I’m doing." She said, biting her lip to hide a smile.

Bellamy scoffed and placed his hand on hers, putting it on her thigh. "Why are you here, Clarke?"  

Clarke pushed his hand away from hers and continued shaving him as she sighed.

"Finn wanted to talk to me." Bellamy parted his lips to say something but she shook her head, stopping him from doing so. "Don’t… he just got way too close it kinda… I don’t know, made me feel uncomfortable."

"Did he touch you?" he asked and Clarke was able to see him clench and unclench his jaw since the one side of his face was already free of foam.

"Ye… no. He-"

"Clarke, don’t lie to me. Did he touch you, yes or no?"

The blonde chewed on her lower lip for a while, considering to just not tell him about what happened, but she knew that he wouldn’t let go of it before she told him.

"Fine… he didn’t _touch_ me but as I said, he got closer and… played with my hair. That’s it."  

Bellamy shook his head, making her cut his cheek lightly. "Shit!"  

"Oh God, sorry," Clarke said while placing the razor on the countertop and scooted to the side. She jumped off it and immediately let out a scream, holding her abdomen at the same time. "Fuck!"  

Bellamy turned around and held her face in his hand, making her look at him. "You alright?" Clarke shook her head and pressed her eyes closed for a second, still hurt by the pain she had just felt. "Wanna go lie down?" she nodded.

The blonde had no idea how she would be able to make it back to the bedroom alone, especially because she knew that as soon as she would move even a little bit, the pain would come back. She was sick of these cramps always kicking in at random times and she had no idea why. It hurt and somehow it felt like it had only gotten worse with every time she got them.

"Guess you can’t walk, huh?" Clarke let out a watery laugh and only then she noticed that she was crying again, as if she hadn’t enough.

Bellamy wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheeks away with his thumb. "Alright, this will hurt," he said before picking her up bridal style and walked out of the bathroom. Meanwhile, Clarke bit her inner cheek, keeping herself from screaming again as she closed her eyes as hard as possible. She really just wanted to know why the hell she got those cramps every time. At some point, she probably would get used to them if they would come back this often.

A minute or two later, they entered their bedroom. Bellamy closed the door with his foot before he made his way over their bed. He stopped in front of it and it didn’t surprise Clarke at all. She knew that he didn’t want her to have any pain again so he was definitely debating how he would make sure that she wouldn’t get hurt by laying her down, but there was no way.

"It’s fine," Clarke said, opening her eyes and meeting his. "Just lay me down. I won’t move after that for a whole day." Bellamy parted his lips to say something but she just shook her head. "Do it."  

He sighed but nodded lightly before he bent forward and pushed the blanket to the back of the bed. Until now, Clarke didn’t feel any pain in her stomach, but that changed when he laid her down on her spine. She let out a sharp breath and closed her eyes again as she placed her hand on her stomach.

But that was it.

Bellamy only pulled the blanket up again, making sure that she was comfortable enough and even though Clarke was thankful for that, she wasn’t as comfortable as she could be.

"Bellamy?"

"Mhm?" he said while walking to the window and pulling the curtains in front of it.

Clarke wanted to sit up but pushed that thought out of her mind again when she remembered why exactly she was lying in bed again. Fucking cramps. She had to figure out why they always hit her soon, otherwise she would freak out.

"Can you stay?" she asked him as soon as he made his way towards her again. He crooked his head to the side and motioned to the white foam around his mouth. She smiled and pulled the covers over hers.

"Give me ten minutes."  

Clarke nodded and watched him walk out of the room. She was glad to have him by her side at times like these and still she felt like she didn’t thank him enough for everything he did for her. That definitely had to change and she told herself that she would do it as soon as he would be back. However, after going through all the options of why she had these cramps, she fell asleep before he came back.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 4, Day 24 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 3 pm.

The day before had been the laziest day Clarke ever had in those four weeks.

She stayed in bed all day long, crying three or four times, while her friends (mostly Bellamy) made sure that she had everything she needed: food, water, tea, a hot water bottle, and of course, her being comfortable. Even then, the time she spent lying around also made her realize things and she came to a conclusion.

That’s why she decided to make her way to the make up room, where she knew her friends would be, getting their stuff ready for later tonight. To her luck, Raven and Emori were the only ones in there, including Octavia. She chewed on her lower lip for a while, considering leaving again and talking to them another time, but Emori lifted her head from her bag and saw her already.

"Clarke!" She said as she got up from her chair. "I didn’t see you for the rest of the day yesterday… are you okay, though?"  

The blonde nodded and entered the room slowly, closing the door behind her.

Now Raven and Octavia were looking at her too, both of them with a light smile on their faces. The latter pulled a chair back next to her and although Clarke didn’t want Octavia to know about her issue in the first place, she still made her way towards her and sat down on the chair.

"Thanks," she told her before her friend waved her off.

"Don’t thank me, Clarke," Octavia replied then started fumbling in her makeup bag. "So, you good?"  

Clarke sighed and placed her arms on the table, lying her head on top of it as she closed her eyes.

"What…" she could hear Raven say but Clarke didn’t do anything. She couldn’t believe that the moment her birthday ended, things had gotten worse again: the Finn situation yesterday, her… whatever.

Clarke didn’t even want to think about it, just imagining that she was right made her feel sick, and not only that, but also cry. She cried because apparently she couldn’t have nice things. She cried because she made stupid decisions right from the beginning and instead of using her brain, she let her feelings rule her decisions. She cried because she could’ve stopped what now was the result of her behaving like an idiot.

The blonde wasn’t even able to focus on what happened around her but someone caressed her spine. Right now, she didn’t even know if things would ever get better again. Her mum would freak out, Monroe would probably tell her that she should think in a hopeful way about her case, and Bellamy… God, she didn’t want to imagine about what he would say. 

She had no idea for how long she had been crying, but at one point there were no tears left and she just laid there, sobbing against her arms. She heard how her friends were whispering around her, asking each other if they knew what happened. Clarke was aware of the fact that she had to tell them eventually, but now it felt like she made the wrong call with coming to them because she wasn’t ready to speak it outloud. She couldn’t even think about it herself without panicking and crying, so how was she able to say it aloud?

"Wanna talk about it?" Raven asked her softly. She didn’t want to but she didn’t have also another choice.

So, Clarke nodded and sat up correctly, taking the tissues from Emori that she was handing her.

"Thank you," she said quietly before wiping the tears away that rolled down her cheeks and her eyes.

Octavia was sitting on her right side, hand still placed on her back while Emori was on her left. Raven sat across from Octavia on the table. They all looked confused and worried at once and it made Clarke feel sick again because this was probably better than how their expression would be in a few minutes when she would tell them what made her feel this miserable and stupid.

But none of them pushed her. They were all silent and kept waiting for her, giving her the time she needed to get her thoughts together because they were a mess. She didn’t even know how to start this conversation, if she should just blurt it out or if she should start with the backstory first.

Clarke sighed and started playing with the tissues in her hand, looking down at them. It was absurd being afraid of her friends’ reactions. They weren’t even involved in it. Well, except for Octavia. That was also the reason why she only wanted to talk to Raven and Emori in the first place but she couldn’t do anything about it and keeping it a secret forever wouldn’t make it better. So blurting it out it was.

"I’m pregnant."

Raven almost fell from the table while Octavia took her hand away from Clarke’s back, grabbing the chair instead. Meanwhile, Emori sat there with her jaw dropped open, eyes widened too. It only made Clarke feel worse because she should’ve known better. Having sex without a condom was definitely the biggest mistake she ever could’ve made and now she had to deal with the consequences.

"Wait, what," Octavia said, shaking her head at the same time. "Are you sure?"

"Did you take a pregnancy test?"  

"Clarke…" The blonde lifted her head and looked at Raven. "Breathe first, okay? I’m not here to judge you and I don’t think that Octavia and Emori’s reaction right now is helping you," she said, glaring at their friends at the same time.

The blonde nodded and placed her elbows on the table, sobbing slightly.

"Alright. Why do you think you’re pregnant then?"

Clarke sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She was glad that Raven was calm and tried to handle this situation in the most comfortable way for her.

"I…" she trailed off. Clarke breathed out one time before she took a look at her friends for a second, then continued. "I didn’t take a test. But… I didn’t get my period and I should’ve. And then there are those cramps I get. I just…"

Emori got up from her chair and walked over to her bag, fumbling in it. Meanwhile, Raven nodded slightly to herself, gathering all the information Clarke just told them. She herself turned her head to Octavia who had a wrinkle in between her eyebrows, already facing her.

"Hm?" Clarke asked her carefully.

Octavia shook her head but looked a little bit worried anyway. She took her hand off the grip and threw one of her legs over the other.

"So, you think you’re pregnant from…"  

Clarke didn’t let her finish the sentence, just nodded slowly before she started playing with the tissues again.

"Well, not to say that I don’t take this seriously, but now I know that you didn’t fuck Finn." Raven said and Clarke closed her eyes for a bit, remembering what happened yesterday.

Her friends didn’t know what happened yet and she didn’t plan on telling them either. She already had to live with her being pregnant, so bringing up the whole Finn situation would make everything worse.

"Fuck."

Clarke, Raven, and Octavia turned their heads around to Emori who walked back to them with her bag in her hand.

"I swear I had a pregnancy test in here."  

Although, this whole situation wasn’t funny, Clarke had to laugh anyway.

"You brought one with you?" she asked her curiously.

Emori looked at her and raised one of her brows. "In the end it would’ve been useful for you and perhaps for me, too." she said throwing her bag behind her shoulder.

Octavia shook her head as she placed her hand on her forehead.

"So, all of you are fucking without condoms or what? Reyes?"

Raven held her hands up in surrender while jumping off the table. "Nope, but only because in comparison to Clarke and Emori, I have no clue who my perfect match is."

Clarke groaned and placed her head on her arms again, turning it to the side so she was still able to look at her friends.

"And Bellamy’s not mine and I’m not in love with him, so me being pregnant now is the worst thing that could’ve happened."  

Emori rolled her eyes so hard that Clarke thought they would fall out of her head. She knew that her friends didn’t agree with her on what she just said, but there was a difference between wishing someone being a perfect match and knowing it like Octavia and Lincoln.

"I’ll just act like I didn’t hear that," Raven said before turning a chair around and sitting on it.

"Anyway," Octavia started while rubbing her forehead. "Since you didn’t take a test yet, let’s not jump to conclusions. It could be anything else like… I don’t know. Your period is late but that doesn’t mean that you won’t get it next week."  

Clarke sat up correctly again and shook her head. "I’m taking birth control."  

"Yeah and I’m glad you’re doing that," Emori added, nodding her head at the same time.

The blonde rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything either. Meanwhile, Octavia let her head fall from the armrest of the chair and Raven moved around on hers. This whole situation stressed each one of them. They weren’t doctors, had no idea what else could be going on, and she definitely wouldn’t call her mom to ask her for help.

As if Emori could read her mind, that was the next thing she brought up.

"Didn’t you say your mom is a doc? We could ask Ary tonight if you could call her or something."  

Clarke shook her head. "I don’t want to tell her." she said quietly.

Raven sighed but nodded, understanding where she was coming from. Octavia sat up correctly and placed her hand on her forehead again, closing her eyes while Emori paced up and down the room.

Clarke really didn’t know what to do at this point. She didn’t want to wait until she was back home in New York and go to a doctor then. There was no way she would be able to keep this to herself for so long and she would freak out without knowing if she even was pregnant, but there were too many signs that it would be a miracle if she wasn’t.

"Wait," Raven said, pulling her out of her thoughts. "We don’t need to ask Aryana. We can just go to our usual store tomorrow. They have almost everything there, so they most likely sell pregnancy tests, too."  

Octavia nodded before she turned her head to Clarke. "You can keep up until then?"  

Clarke sighed. She knew she had. Freaking out wouldn’t make things easier and speculating wasn’t helping either. She would try to keep her shit together until Monday. That wouldn’t be so hard, right?

"Yeah. I mean, I have to. It’s not what I want, but it’s the only way now," she uttered, still sobbing quietly.

"Alright," Emori added as she stopped pacing back and forth in the room. "And now? Will you tell Bellamy?"

Clarke looked at her friends for a few seconds, who waited for her to answer, but she wasn’t sure. If she wasn’t pregnant, then she put him in an uncomfortable situation for nothing. Then again, if she was, he had a right to know because…

She shook her head. "I don’t want to."  

Raven was still looking at her in a way that was too intense for Clarke to handle so she turned her head in the direction of Octavia who still had her hand placed on her forehead and kept her gaze on the floor. It was probably as hard for Octavia as for her because now she had to consider being a… no. She wouldn’t go there. She had no idea if she was really pregnant so that was where she had to stop.

"I just… I don’t want it to be true." she whispered, more to herself than to her friends.

"No, that’s fine, Clarke," Emori said, walking over to her. "Let’s wait for the test, yeah?"  

The blonde nodded as she wiped some tears away that were rolling down her cheeks again. Sure, she wanted to have kids in the future, but she was only nineteen. A day ago she was fucking eighteen years old and just got into college. It would ruin all the plans and goals she wanted to achieve and her mother would go crazy.

"I’ll go with you tomorrow so you don’t have to do this alone, okay?" Raven questioned, pulling her into a hug at the same time.

And although Clarke didn’t want to cry again, that’s what she did.

Just the thought of seeing two lines instead of one on a pregnancy test was scaring her, but everything after that was even worse: this whole show, the friendship she had with Bellamy, and her mother would distance herself from her. Her being pregnant would turn her whole life around and it was her worst nightmare.

# # # # # # # # # #

9 pm.

"Welcome to your fourth Matching Ceremony!"

The whole group started clapping and shouting the moment Aryana began the introductions. Each one of them wasn’t sure how this one would turn out after the ups and downs they had this week, but they didn’t want to lose hope either. Last week they were able to get five beams, this time they wanted to get more than that. But it was still unclear to them whether they would actually get more than five.

"Today, it’s time for our guys and Lexa to choose again. But first, let’s appreciate the fact that you guys finally found a perfect match!" The host said, smile on her face.

"Yeah." Murphy shouted before he used his thumb and index finger to whistle in Octavia and Lincoln’s direction who were already sitting on one of the seats on the right side.

Aryana smiled then started walking towards Clarke’s direction. That caught not only Bellamy’s eyes, but also everyone else’s attention. He didn’t know why the host was doing this and Clarke was just as surprised as he was until she opened her arms.

"Just wanted to say happy birthday even though it’s a little bit late."  

Clarke shook her head and smiled lightly as she got up and hugged her back. "Thank you."

Bellamy smiled to himself but only for a brief moment since Murphy nudged his side with his elbow. He turned around to him and frowned.

"What?"

Murphy just grinned lightly before he winked and turned his attention back to Aryana who was now standing behind the podium again. Bellamy rolled his eyes but did the same.

"Also, just to make things clear one time and then never again: If I see someone trying to touch a girl or a boy without them wanting to get touched by that person, things will change in this house. You’re the first group that is this crazy so the next time something like yesterday happens, we’ll take that person out and replace them."

Murphy took a step closer to Bellamy, tilting his head to the side. He did the same and waited for what his friend had to say.

"Who she talking ‘bout?" Murphy asked.

Bellamy cleared his throat before deciding to act like he wasn’t aware of what Aryana was talking about. "I don’t know," he lied.

Murphy nodded before he pushed Bellamy back to his spot. He swept his eyes to Clarke for a second who shifted a bit on her seat, clearly uncomfortable. He raked his fingers through his hair then listened to Aryana again who continued her speech.

"We’re going into week 5 now, that’s half-time. Some of you didn’t make any connections yet and as much as I love you guys, speaking of _La Familia_ , it’s time for each one of you to go your own way. You’re not being fair to your other participants, since anyone could be your match. Again, it’s okay to build friendships, but don’t keep the others from finding their perfect matches."   

Bellamy knew that the host was right. Until now, they mostly spent time with each other instead of getting to know the other participants too. Sure, Luna, Wells, and Costia sometimes spent their time with them as well, but there were also Echo and Finn. No one really liked them which made it harder for everyone in the house to get closer to them, but someone had to be their match.

"Last but not least, there are two things that we changed from the last seasons. I think all of you are going to like both." Aryana said with a grin on her lips. "Wanna hear?"   

"Of course! Tell us already!" Jasper shouted in the row in front of Bellamy.

The host smiled before she nodded to herself.

"Alright," she started, clapping her hands after that. "So, every time you guys confirm a match through the Truth Booth, you get something as a little ‘gift’."  

"Wait, what!?" Octavia shouted. "Now that we’re gone they get something? What about Lincoln and me?"  

Murphy started laughing and all he could do was shake his head with a smirk on his lips.

"Sorry, but you get to leave the drama. _And_ you can have sex as much as you want without Bellamy noticing."

Said person hit the back of Murphy’s head, this time harder than usually. "Just shut up."  

Octavia laughed this time herself, making the host chuckle.

"Anyway. Obviously, it’s not going to be easy for you to get it. For Octavia and Lincoln as a perfect match, you get a movie night. Meaning, we’ll install Netflix on the TV which you can use only on Saturdays."  

Bellamy crossed his arms in front of his chest, tilting his chin up a bit. "But?"  

Aryana winked at him before she got serious again. "Yeah, there’s a but. You guys must give up your privacy in the bedroom."   

Some people started groaning while others didn’t think it was that bad, including Bellamy. It wasn’t like they could do anything sexual in there anyway since they had roommates sleeping meters away from them. He didn’t mind and a movie night sounded good to him. Apparently, Wells thought so, too.

"I mean we should take it, guys. What’s the problem with cameras in the bedroom? We change in the closet anyway."

Zeke shook his head heavily, disagreeing. "No, Wells, that’s not the point."  

"Roan sleeps naked there is no way he would- no, you know what, he would," Raven said while leaning back in her chair again.

Roan just shrugged his shoulder. "Sleeping naked is the best thing you can do. But, Wells, sweetie… there are people here who have sex in the bedroom."  

"Are there?" Maya said, turning her torso around and looking at each one of them.

Bellamy cleared his throat, keeping himself from grinning as he answered Maya’s question.

"Sure, there are. You think Emori doesn’t walk over to our room in the middle of the night to jump Murphy?"

Murphy shoved him against Zeke. "Shut up, Blake. As if you don’t fuck Clarke around 3 in the morning."  

"He doesn’t." Clarke shouted in their direction.

"Yet!" Raven added while Aryana was laughing her ass off in the front.

Bellamy placed his hand on his forehead. He had no idea that this Matching Ceremony would turn out like this, especially not after the last two days. The whole Finn situation yesterday kind of dropped his positivity and the thought of Clarke getting her cramps again was still haunting him. But to be honest, seeing her sitting in her seat genuinely smiling just showed him that she was having a great time right now and that made him worry a little less than before.

"Okay, guys, as much as I would like to keep this conversation up, we have to start this Matching Ceremony. But I guess that means you are willing to take Netflix and live with cameras in the bedroom."

"Yeah, we’re fine with it. Let’s just get this over with." Lexa said.

"Let’s just get this over with." Murphy mimicked quietly, and Bellamy had to let out a snort. It was kind of rude, but then again it was also Murphy.

Miller was the first one to get called to the front and, of course, he picked Jackson. That reminded him of how he should give his all at the next challenge so he could finally go on a date with the doctor, giving them a second confirmed match.

Bellamy spun his head around to Clarke when that came into his mind. Jackson was a doctor. He should’ve thought about going to him earlier so he could ask him if he could check up on Clarke. The cramps were coming too often now and driving to a hospital could be hard in their case. 

After Miller and Jackson sat down on a seat, Jasper was called to pick his perfect match and just like the last week, he decided to go with Harper. They locked into the system before walking back to Harper’s seat.

Lexa followed and chose Costia again. Sure, Bellamy wasn’t such a big fan of her, but he could still imagine her being Costia’s perfect match. He liked Costia. She wasn’t talking that much and he hadn’t been around her a lot either, but he had a feeling that she had a great personality.

"Alright, Roan, you’re next." Aryana said, whereupon Roan made his way towards her and stopped in front of the podium. "So, any ideas of who could be your perfect match?"

Roan snorted and shook his head. "Not really, but I’m making connections and all that."

The host nodded. "Then who’s your match for tonight?"  

"I would’ve picked Bellamy but that doesn’t seem possible because he has to pick for himself today and I don’t think Clarke would like me picking him after he did that big ass romantic thing for her."  

Bellamy groaned as he rolled his eyes. He should’ve expected something like this to happen after Roan saw him coming out of the bathroom Friday morning. Now he was sure that the older one entered the bathroom as soon as he left him alone. It seemed like Roan was really obsessed with him or jealous of Clarke… whatever.

"Oh? Well, I guess we have to keep that in mind the next time. I didn’t expect that," Aryana uttered. "But now, who do you pick?"  

"I pick Raven tonight."

The brunette rose up from her seat and walked over to Roan while everyone clapped their hands as usual. Meanwhile, Murphy took a step closer to Bellamy and leaned closer.

"Does he have a crush on you?"

Bellamy could hear the sarcastic tone in his friend’s voice and he had to roll his eyes but it still made him smirk a bit. "Seems like."

"Murphy!"

"Well, my turn, Blake." 

Bellamy shook his head but patted his friend’s shoulder before he walked over to Aryana. It wasn’t a surprise to him and to everyone else that he picked Emori again. They were definitely a perfect match and they should try to get them into the Truth Booth next. After Miller and Jackson, of course.

The host called Zeke to her when Murphy and Emori sat down on their seat. Bellamy wasn’t really sure who he would pick, considering that Zeke only really had a talk with Maya and Luna. But, Wells would choose Maya, that was for sure, so it would only make sense if Zeke would pick Luna and that’s what he did in the end. The two of them locked into the system before returning to Luna’s seat together. 

After that, it was Monty’s turn and unsurprisingly he called Sasha to him. Bellamy knew that Monty liked her and that they spent a lot of time on their own, too. He was happy for his friend and hoped that they really were a match because he could imagine how much both of them wanted to be one.

Wells followed soon after that and chose Maya, as expected. They locked the match and exited the stage.

And then it was his turn.

Bellamy made his way over to Aryana and stopped in front of the podium, putting one of his hands in the pocket of his black jeans. The host raised one of her eyebrows at him and he had to fight back the urge to roll his eyes. He knew what was about to happen and even though it wasn’t bad and a topic that had to be talked about, it slightly got on his nerves. But then she asked something that he never expected.

"Are you in love with Clarke?"

"What?"

"Bellamy, if you don’t say yes now, I’ll haunt you in your dreams while being in the honeymoon suite." Octavia shouted, making Aryana snort.

To be honest, he had no idea what to answer to this one. He expected everything; her asking him about what Roan told her a few minutes ago, her asking him if he thought Clarke was his perfect match, her asking him if he would be okay with Roan picking him. Anything. This, however, really surprised him and threw him under a bus. Luckily, someone else answered the question for him.

"Okay, just so everyone knows, we’re just friends. There’s nothing more you need to know about what’s going on between us." Clarke explained.

"Good!" Finn shouted, and Bellamy turned around to look at him. "He doesn’t deserve you anyway! He doesn’t give a fuck about you, Clarke. He’s arrogant and only cares about himself. I don’t know how you guys can be friends with him without wanting to constantly slap that smug smirk off his face!"

Bellamy tilted his head to the side frowning for a few seconds before he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Come again?”

The younger one started stomping towards him and Bellamy had to keep himself from laughing. Apparently, Finn noticed that and as soon as he was standing in front of him, he pushed Bellamy against the podium. Now, he really had to snort.

"What, you think you’re funny?" Finn questioned. "Sorry, but I don’t think that this is one of your better qualities."

Bellamy raised one of his eyebrows as he folded his arms in front of him, crooking his head to the side.

"Yeah? So, what are my qualities then?" he asked curiously.

"I think that’s enough, though." Maya said and wanted to get up but Wells held up his arm in front of her.

"Let them work this out."

Finn didn’t say anything for a good minute and Bellamy started thinking that he wasn’t able to speak anymore, but then he shook his head and finally said something.

"You only have negative ones. Like lying to other people, fooling around with them like you did with Maya."

"No, bro, leave her out of this," Murphy uttered, now getting up himself. "This is none of your business. Get your ass back to the stage."

Finn laughed and turned towards Murphy. Meanwhile, Bellamy shook his head. He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening right now. This was the most ridiculous thing of this whole show. Finn was embarrassing himself not only in front of the group, but also in front of millions of people who were watching. At this point, he only felt bad for him.

"So, Bellamy can’t defend himself now, huh? Gotta get in between it, Murphy?"

Bellamy rolled his eyes again, he couldn’t figure out why they didn’t fall out of his head already.

"Let it go, Murphy."

"Guys, we-"

Finn just ignored Aryana behind Bellamy and stepped closer to him again. "Yeah, speak for yourself. Don’t you want to tell anyone that you hurt Clarke the night of her birthday?"

Bellamy thought he wasn’t hearing correctly. Did he just…

"Wow," he said languidly. "This is really what you’re making up now? Don’t you know better than that? I mean, not that joking about it is great in general, since this is an actual issue. And you come to me, joking about it? Really?"

Finn shook his head and took a few steps to the side, looking at Aryana now.

"I’m not-"

"Yeah, no, Finn. We have a camera in the hallway, nice try, but you clearly failed. Now get back on stage so we can finish up this Matching Ceremony."  

Bellamy was about to turn around again when he saw the look on Clarke’s face. Luckily, he was able to read her expression and only rolled his eyes before smiling lightly, making her look down in her lap while a pink flush that was making its way on her face. What they had been doing that night was anything other than what Finn was trying to say and seeing that look on Clarke’s face just showed him that she still didn’t forget about it.

Aryana parted her lips to say something, probably asking him who he would choose tonight but Finn didn’t think that it was the end of the fight. And after what he said aloud, Bellamy wasn’t either.

"I don’t even know why you accept criminals at this show. He was in prison for two years. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really did hurt Clarke."

Bellamy spun around and pushed Finn back. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" he yelled, pushing him back another time.

Now, Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Miller, and Roan got up too, making their way over to him and Finn. Meanwhile, the rest of the group started worrying about the whole situation. Clarke grabbed his arm for a second, pulling him back, so he couldn’t get closer to Finn again.

"Bellamy, it’s fine. Don’t listen to him." she said quietly.

He shook his head, making her let go of his arm carefully. "If you think I’ll let him say bullshit like that, then you’re wrong."

"Yeah, Clarke, just let him show you how aggressive he is. Then you’ll know his real face."

"Just shut the fuck up!?" he spit, turning his head around. "And you want to tell me that _you_ care about, Clarke? How about get over the fact that she doesn’t want you and just back off!?"

"Bellamy…"

"No. Don’t Murphy, I’m not done yet!"

Finn laughed again which just raised the anger in Bellamy’s chest. So, he shoved him backwards, making the younger one hit the wall. He took the few steps forward that were missing before he stood right in front of him.

"I swear to God, if you’re ever going to talk about Clarke or my past like this again, you won’t get away from it the way you do now. Back. Off. Mind your own fucking business and look for your perfect match."

Bellamy turned around and was about to walk back to Aryana but Finn grabbed him by his forearm and turned him back around. He pulled his arm away from his grip, confusion and annoyance written on his face.

"Finn, I’m _tired._ What do you want!?"

"How about you find your perfect match and leave Clarke alone if both of you say that you’re not a match?"

Bellamy groaned as he threw his head back against his neck.

"Did you even listen to him?" Miller asked, stepping next to Bellamy now. "Just because you’re still running after Clarke doesn’t mean that he’s not looking for his perfect match, which actually is Clarke. They’re just too dumb to get that themselves. Leave them the fuck alone, Finn."

"How can you want someone like Bellamy to be Clarke’s perfect match!? I don’t get it!"  

"Yo," Octavia shouted, pushing Miller and Bellamy out of the way. Even though he didn’t want his little sister to get in between his fights, he knew she was doing this for various reasons. "I don’t even want to start getting real pissed right now, I’m not in the mood for that. I had a great week here: got back together with my friends, found out that Lincoln is my perfect match, and you’re not going to ruin this day for me either, got it!?"  

Bellamy was surprised by how calm Octavia seemed to be. He knew that she was burning from the inside, but seeing that she actually was calmer than he was right now just made him feel much better.

Finn just shook his head and muttered something under his breath as he walked back onto the stage again. Bellamy turned back around and walked over to Aryana again while the rest of the group took their seats again.

"Sorry," he said, shrugging his shoulders at the same time.

The host just waved him off and pointed to the sitting area of the winter garden. "Do I have to ask?"

Bellamy shook his head. "Nope," he replied while turning around and sending Clarke a light smile. She stood up again and walked over to him before wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Anything to say about what just happened, Clarke?"

The blonde shook her head before she sighed. "I actually have no idea what’s going on in Finn’s mind and I have other things to deal with than his possessiveness. I know he’s sorry for what happened, but I don’t need him to be happy. I have my friends. I’m sure I’ll find my match too and that’s it."  

Aryana’s eyes widened for a second before she looked at the monitor and motioned them to lock in. They did so before walking back to Clarke’s chair. Just like last Sunday, Bellamy sat down first and told Clarke to sit down on his lap which she did without hesitation. He was still tired and annoyed by what just happened and he wasn’t surprised when she turned her head to him and tilted it to the side.

"You alright?" she asked, looking a little bit worried.

"It’s fine. Are you? Did you get cramps again?"  

Clarke sighed and shook her head. "Stop this and tell me if you’re fine. You know why."   

Bellamy looked at her for a second, considering to just shut his mouth but the expression she had on her face was too sad for him to say nothing at all.

He just shrugged his shoulders and raked his fingers through his hair. "I don’t know, I’m just tired of all of this. My head hurts and I feel like this week was a joke."

Clarke nodded and got off him, motioning him to scoot a bit to the side, which he did. She sat down next to him and threw one of her legs over his (luckily, she was wearing a white pair of culottes, otherwise people would be able to look between her legs). She placed her head on his shoulder, whereupon he wrapped his arm around hers, pulling her a bit closer.

"I liked this week," Clarke murmured and Bellamy had to smile. The week wasn’t bad at all, it just had a lot of ups and downs and he couldn’t imagine how many beams they would get this time. Of course, he was hoping for more than just five like last week, but then again he wasn’t sure if they actually picked the right people as their matches. But one thing he knew was…

_No Blackout. One Beam._

Bellamy and everyone else in the winter garden started clapping, this time a little less than usual. It was clear that the tension from a few minutes ago wasn’t gone yet and that it would probably follow them back to the house.

"Don’t worry," he said quietly to Clarke. "I liked the week, too."

She sat up correctly and turned around to face him. "Didn’t you just say you didn’t like it?"

Bellamy smirked before motioning her to return to her position from a few seconds ago, again. She did so, still slightly confused _and_ amused.

"I changed my mind."  

"Because of what?" Clarke asked, playing with the buttons of his black flannel. He snorted lightly before he kissed the top of her head.

"You mean because of who, I guess."

"Mhm."

 _Second beam_.

Clarke sat up correctly again and clapped harder this time while some of the other participants already stood up, like Luna, Costia, and Echo (who was sitting next to Finn since they had been the only ones left after Bellamy picked Clarke).

He could only smile to himself by seeing Clarke fine again. She didn’t give him any signs of feeling sick again or having cramps, so that was good. The only time she felt a little bit uncomfortable, which he noticed, was when Aryana brought up how Finn was trying to get her to talk with him yesterday. For sure that wouldn’t happen again because now Bellamy would try to keep him away from her.

Since she was wearing her hair down, Bellamy put a strand of hair behind her ear which made her turn her face towards him again. She smiled lightly, shaking her head a little bit.

"What," she whispered, keeping eye contact with him. He shrugged his shoulders before looking her up and down for a second, leaning back after that.

"Just didn’t tell you yet that you look great tonight."

Clarke started blushing again and turned her face back to the front of the garden just as _another beam_ lit up.

"Three beams, Ladies and Gentleman! We’re close to the five you had last week!" The host shouted.

"Well, then let’s get the other two and more!" Jasper yelled as response.

Bellamy turned his head to Clarke again who still wasn’t facing him and smirked a bit to himself. He hadn’t been able to make her blush before this whole week started and although it confused him a bit, he also thought it was really adorable.

He fixed his gaze on the beams again, waiting for another one to light up, but instead, he felt soft lips against his cheek for a brief second. He turned his face back to Clarke who was running her hand through her hair right now, adjusting it to the side. Bellamy had no idea what was currently going on in her mind or what she was trying to achieve with the kiss. Yet, that wasn’t important when it happened.

The _fourth beam_ lit up and Clarke got up from his lap and started clapping again just like him and the others. He didn’t feel like getting up, so when she turned around to him and tilted her head to the side, he just shook his, motioning to her that he would stay where he was.

Clarke shifted on her feet for a bit before she sat down on his lap again. Bellamy laughed but didn’t say anything, just wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Wasn’t that kinda unnecessary?" he asked her softly.

She shook her head but kept her gaze fixed on the beams in front of them.

"No, it wasn’t," was all she said before the lights went on again and most of the group let out a growl.

Aryana turned towards them again and placed her hands on the podium in front of her and swept her eyes over the whole group. Bellamy wasn’t sure what that meant and it seemed like no one else knew either because everyone went silent. Actually, he could hear some people whispering around, asking each other if they were allowed to go or what would happen now.

The host sighed before she shook her head lightly and fixed her gaze on the podium.

"Uhm…" Clarke turned her head around to Bellamy but he just shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea what was going on either but then the host lifted her head, stood up correctly and looked at each one of them.

"You guys are starting your fifth week. You have one confirmed match. The highest number of light beams you had was five and your constantly starting drama in the house. The only pairs I see together all the time are Miller and Jackson, Lexa and Costia, and Murphy and Emori. Other than that, it seems like you’re fooling around. And although that’s what you should be doing, finding your match, you’re doing it incorrectly."  

Bellamy could hear Clarke sigh and he knew that this only made things worse for her. She had already been through a lot in this show and now it seemed like nothing was getting better.

"What happened yesterday and tonight should be a lesson to all of you, and if I ever hear someone joke around again about actual issues in the world...Get your shit together! Work stuff out and let go of friendships and random matches! It’s time for you to stick your heads out of your ass and take this game seriously, or at the end, you’ll lose all the money and will leave Los Angeles without love either. Now get back to the house, go to sleep as soon as you can, and try again this coming week. See you on Wednesday."  

Everyone rose up from their seats and made their way to Octavia and Lincoln first, telling them their goodbyes. At least one of their friends were about to leave the house and all the drama.

"Wait!" Aryana shouted, turning everyone’s attention back to her. "I forgot to mention this early. The confirmed match is allowed to visit the house once a week. New rule. They decide themselves when and for how long, but that doesn’t mean that you guys can sleep on your actual work. Find love, guys."

All of them clapped again as Aryana and the camera team made their way out of the winter garden. Bellamy turned back to his sister before he pulled her into a hug.

"Don’t do stupid things, big brother."

Bellamy snorted and pulled back, smiling at her. "I won’t."

"Tell Clarke you love her."

"O…" she just waved him off and went to her other friends, saying goodbye to them, too.

Bellamy sighed and looked at the four beams that were lit up in front of them. They really had only five weeks left to figure out who was a perfect match and until now, it didn’t look good at all. They should finally get to know everyone and hopefully, they would be able to. Otherwise, this whole Dating Show was for nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...ready to find out if clarke is pregnant or not? because you'll in the next chapter. also, a lovely person will appear as a guest due to the challenge that comes next. who do you think will it be?
> 
> also: remember that 1 beam is already lit because of linctavia, 4 beams were added. 
> 
> again; sorry for the finn situation but it is necessary for a plotline. 
> 
> as usual, comments and kudos are appreciated, see you on wednesday!


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> easter eggs. challenge. truth booth. 
> 
> enjoy!

Week 5, Day 25 – Monday. Los Angeles. 8.45 am.

"Clarke?"

The blonde spun her head around to look at Emori. Her friend had a quizzical expression on her face with a soft smile on her lips.

"Everything is going to be fine. You don’t have to be nervous."

Clarke scoffed and focused on the street in front of them. It was pretty early and usually she would be lying in bed sleeping, but Emori woke her up in the morning whilst everyone else was still asleep so nobody would know that they went to the store only to buy a pregnancy test and ask if they could buy some groceries, too.

At first, Raven wanted to go with Clarke but the brunette felt sick upon waking up, so Emori took her place. That’s why they were now almost at the store and Clarke was, indeed, nervous.

"I just hope you’re right. I can’t have a child, Emori!" she whined, pulling the door of the store open. "I mean, sure, I haven’t had any cramps until now, but still… they’ll probably come back."

Her friend shook her head while they made their way towards the women’s section. "I don’t really think you’re pregnant," Clarke stopped and turned to Emori, tilting her head to the side. Emori just shrugged her shoulders and smiled a bit. "I’m serious. You could have them because of a hundred other reasons. Period? Stress? Don’t freak out."

Clarke wanted to say something back, but Emori already turned on her heels and walked to the back of the store. The blonde sighed and followed her friend. She could only hope that she was right about her not being pregnant. It scared her in a way that she couldn’t describe with words and knowing that she would have to tell Bellamy didn’t make it easier.

"So," she asked Emori when stepping next to her in front of a shelf full of tampons, sanitary pads, and various pregnancy tests. "Which one do I pick now?"

Emori crooked her head and looked at each one of them while Clarke felt lost. She had no idea what would be enough for her and what the difference was between some. It was kind of hilarious that her friend seemed to know more about this than her, but apparently she always kept some tests with her. It only made sense that she had a better idea with these things.

"I’m not so sure," Well, or not. "I don’t know if you want one where you could see how long you have been pregnant, though. Like… does that matter to you? If you do want one with that feature or extras, it’ll cost more."

Clarke sighed but swept her eyes over all the different packages anyway. It was probably the best idea to prepare herself with know how long she’d been pregnant, but she also didn’t want to really know. If she was, then that was enough for now. She took a basic one off the shelf but grabbed two others as well. Emori lifted one brow whereupon she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Just in case," she told her before walking towards the counter. Her friend followed her, looking at her with amusement. "What?"

"Learn your lesson, Griffin."

Clarke rolled her eyes and placed the three tests on the countertop then turned to the side, facing her friend since the cashier wasn’t there yet.

"I did. I’m buying them so I can make sure that the result is the same…" Emori nodded but she was still pulling a face. "I’m serious, it won’t happen again. Condom from now on."

"Oh? You know that you’ll have to explain to Bellamy why out of nowhere?"

The blonde chewed on her lip for a while, deciding what she should answer to that. Luckily, she didn’t have to since the cashier came out from a little room. She paid for the tests, ignoring her friend’s gaze on her. Emori placed some snacks on the countertop last minute before Clarke could give the clerk the money.

"Really?" she asked her friend, kinda annoyed by how many things she was making her pay for.

"Yeah. You’ll thank me for that as soon as your period kicks in."

Clarke shook her head as she put everything in a bag after she paid for it, and carried it around her shoulder. They sent their goodbyes to the seller before walking out of the store and making their way back to the mansion.

"How can you be so sure of me not being pregnant?" she questioned Emori.

The brunette just shrugged her shoulders. "I just don’t think you are. There are more symptoms than those you have and to be honest, you’re pretty relaxed about all of this. Sure, you’re nervous and cried a lot on Sunday… okay and on Saturday but like… only for reasons of pain. Again, as I said, there are various reasons as to why you could get those cramps. You’re literally thinking about the worst possible scenario rather than thinking about everything else first."

Clarke sighed. She knew that Emori was right. The possibility of her not being pregnant was still there but she didn’t want to be disappointed. In the end, it could just be pre-period cramps and her period not starting yet. It could be due to all the drama she went through. It would actually make sense, but pregnancy did, too. Although both were fucked up situations, she preferred having these cramps because of the drama in the house and not because of pregnancy. She hoped that it was, she really did.

"How can I be nervous if you always tell me that I’m not pregnant? That only gets my hopes up that I’m not."

Emori snorted. "Yeah, right. Sorry ‘bout that? I don’t know. I just don’t want you to freak out about something you have no idea about. Also, you didn’t get sick or throw up…"

Clarke nodded, seeing where her friend was coming from.

"Maybe… but still there is the possibility of me being-"

"Listen. Last time I’m actually going to talk with you about this. Do you want to take the test alone or want me to be there when you take it?"

The blonde frowned for a bit before chewing on her lip. She couldn’t imagine doing it alone, waiting there for ten or fifteen minutes until the result would be there. There was no way she would be able to stay calm. It wasn’t like she was scared of Emori’s reaction. She knew that whatever was going to come out of it, her friend would support her.

"Mhm," she said while opening the front door of the mansion. "Sure, I don’t think I would be able to pull this off alone, so…"

Clarke let Emori in first before she followed, closing the door behind her. "Thought so. Wanna do it now or later?" her friend asked her as she almost made her way upstairs, but Clarke grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Huh?"

She shook her head and pulled her with her to the bathroom on the first floor. Emori didn’t say anything and just followed her. Clarke was sure that her friend understood why she wanted to take the test downstairs instead of doing it on the second floor; the risk that someone could walk in was way too high and Clarke didn’t want someone to know about her issues. It was hard enough for her to act all normal around Bellamy when she always had her being pregnant in the back of her mind. Sometimes, she really wanted to slap herself for being so stupid.

As soon as they were inside, Emori locked the door while Clarke placed the bag on the countertop and took out the three pregnancy tests.

"You sure you want to do this?" her friend asked as she made her way to the counter, stopping next to her.

Clarke nodded before she opened one of the packages. "You know how to do it, right? So I don’t have to read the instruction?"

Emori nodded her head and took the test and instruction out of her hand. She lifted her head to her for a second and sent her a soft smile. "You’re shaking."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I know, just tell me what to do." Emori sighed. "What?"

"You’re allowed to be scared, Clarke. I’m serious. No one wants to go through this when they don’t expect to… you know. So, don’t try to be tough. Definitely not in front of me, okay? There is no need to be."

Clarke sighed but nodded anyway before she sat down on the toilet. "Okay… still. I want to get over with it. I need to know if I’m pregnant or not so please just tell me what I have to do."

Emori scoffed as she shrugged her shoulders. She then walked over to her and handed her the test.

"Pee on it. Wait ten minutes. One line means you’re not pregnant. Two lines mean-"

"I am. Got it." Emori nodded and motioned her to take the test already before she turned on her heels and walked over to the washing machine, jumping onto it.

Clarke took the test and looked at it for a few seconds. She still wasn’t sure what she should expect. Of course she wanted to see that one line, confirming Emori’s theory, but then again… Fuck, she didn’t even want to think about it but she had to. She had to think of the consequences and how things would be after finding out that she was pregnant.

The blonde sighed, nodding to herself softly. "You got this," she muttered to herself before doing what she had to do.

It still didn’t change that she was nervous about it. She was still shaking and because of that, she thought she was doing something wrong, even if there wasn’t much _to_ do wrong. However, as soon as she was done, Emori assured her that everything was correct.

And then they had to wait. Ten minutes.

Clarke couldn’t do it. She was pacing up and down the room, rubbing her hand over her face or running it through her hair. Every minute she walked back to the counter where Emori was now standing and took a look at the test but nothing changed, of course not. There was still one line and she hoped that it would stay like this. It didn’t change how nervous she was anyway.

"Calm down, Griffin. It won’t switch up to two lines," her friend uttered but she just shook her head, stopping next to her again.

"You don’t know that! And I still could’ve done something wrong so the test is negative…"

Emori rolled her eyes and Clarke thought they would fall out of her head. "No, you did everything right. Don’t worry that much. But if you don’t trust the result, do another one. Now." Clarke nodded, opened the second package and did another one.

For a minute, she thought of taking the third one too, just to be one hundred percent sure, but in case something similar would happen to anyone of the participants, she didn’t. Keeping one would help more people than just Emori and her.

As soon as she was done, she started pacing up and down the bathroom again, making Emori now nervous, too. Half of the time already passed and with every second Clarke grew more and more anxious. She thought of how she would explain to her mum that she was pregnant; how she would tell Monroe about her stupid-ness, hearing her say that she should’ve known when doing casual hook-ups only; how her friends would react and most importantly… Bellamy.

They didn’t talk about a future with each other, why should they have? They weren’t a couple and they weren’t a perfect match, either. There were no feelings involved in whatever they were currently doing, so talking about wanting to have kids and marriage wasn’t something that they had done. Sure, when the whole group got to know each other some people acted on it, considering that they had to find their match and it would help to know how one was feeling about having children and getting married, but Clarke didn’t talk about it. Not with anyone, so she had no idea if Bellamy was willing to be a father because she wouldn’t give it up for adoption and definitely wouldn’t have an abortion.

"Clarke…"

The blonde spun her head around and looked at her friend. "What?"

Emori waved her over with a little smile on her face and Clarke knew what that meant. She swallowed thickly then walked over to her friend, stopping right next to her in front of the counter, but before she could take a look at the tests, she closed her eyes and breathed out one last time.

Clarke opened her eyes again and fixed her gaze on the tests. Both of them had one line and she wanted to drop on her knees and thank the lord for not having her be pregnant. But instead, she smiled genuinely and turned around to Emori, who had a grin on her face.

"Who told you you’re not pregnant?"

"Oh, fuck off," she said while pulling her friend into a hug. Emori hugged her back and caressed her back a little bit.

"I told you everything would be fine, though," she uttered, pulling back at the same time. "Now we only have to figure out why exactly you get those cramps instead. It could be more than just your body reacting to stress like that."

Clarke nodded and released a sigh, turned back to the counter and took both tests in her hand. "Yeah, I know," she replied, throwing the tests in the bin without looking back. "I guess I’ll go to Jackson later today or so, whenever I feel like speaking about it."

Emori shook her head. "When you feel like speaking about it?" she questioned while taking the third package in her hand and following Clarke out of the bathroom. "How about you just go and tell him instead of waiting for too long?"

The blonde sighed and waited for Emori to catch up. When she did, they walked upstairs together as quietly as possible.

"I don’t want to deal with it yet… I’ll wait and see if the pain comes back. If not, then I don’t need to talk to Jackson. If yes, I _promise_ that I’ll tell him. Alright?"

They stopped in front of Emori’s room first. Clarke leaned against the door sideways so she was still able to look at her friend while they were having a conversation.

"Fine," Emori smiled softly while placing a hand on Clarke’s shoulder. She looked down at it before lifting her head back to meet her friend’s gaze and returned the smile. "Take care of yourself, yeah?"

Clarke nodded and took a step back from the door, so Emori could enter the bedroom, which she did. They decided to talk later and update Raven. She needed to know that everything was fine, no pregnancy in sight.

She smiled to herself, still not able to realize that she freaked out for no reason. To be honest, she should’ve listened to her friends before. Making herself crazy wasn’t the best thing that she could’ve done, especially because she hadn’t taken a pregnancy test yet. She had just assumed that she was, but now that she was proven wrong, she felt a lot better.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that she planned on doing nothing today.

Clarke wanted to be lazy with her friends, but on the other hand, she wanted to follow what Aryana had been saying. Her perfect match was somewhere, probably sleeping right now and instead of spending her time with her friends, she should open up and get closer to other participants, too. Sure, there weren’t many left and she talked to all of them already, but she had no idea who her match was. It frustrated her because she knew she had to find hers and figure it out on her own, but it was somehow hard to do so.

She sighed and turned on her heels, walking to her bedroom. There was no way she would leave Los Angeles without the money and love. She would figure out who her match was as soon as possible.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 5, Day 27 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 12 pm.

"Well, well, well, here we go again! Your fifth challenge, guys. You excited?"

Everyone started clapping and cheering when they got into two lines again. Boys on the left, girls on the right. The Matching Ceremony turned out bad for them even though they got plus four beams next to the one that stood for Octavia and Lincoln. Still, they wanted to try harder and better from now on.

The whole group sat together this morning and talked about what should change and how they should play the game. They all agreed to less groups of friends and instead, building more relationships to other people, which was exactly what they were trying to do now.

And that’s why Clarke found herself standing between Echo and Costia in the front row.

She still didn’t think that Echo would mean anything to her by the end of week ten and she kind of thought it was sad. She already built a connection with everyone but her and it didn’t seem like the older one wanted to have anything to do with her either. She couldn’t even wish for it to change since Echo was still sending her glares sometimes and Clarke had no idea why.

But thinking about it now wouldn’t change much. She had to focus on the challenge. That was the most important thing now.

"I heard y’all got your shit together and actually had a conversation as a whole group. That’s great. What did you guys come up with?" Aryana asked, proud expression on her face.

Monty took one for the team and answered the host’s question.

"Yeah, we kinda took your words on Sunday serious and decided to change things up a little bit. We started with the rooms, though. We switched some people into other rooms like Wells and Luna joined Murphy’s room and therefore Roan and Harper left. So, we tried to get away from friendships and focus more on finding our perfect match which we are supposed to do here. We didn’t do that yet and I think being in half-time kinda snapped us back to reality."

The whole group started clapping again and Clarke could hear one of the guys whistling. She smiled to herself, proud of all the people she was here with. They finally got their shit together and would be better from now on.

"That’s what I want to hear, you guys," The host said, smile on her face, but she got serious almost immediately, silencing everyone. "Now, it’s time for you to actually find another perfect match. Octavia and Lincoln are the only confirmed couple you have and they’re already living their life in the honeymoon suite."

And Clarke missed her already.

Sure, they had one hell of a ride from week one to the end of week four and to be honest, the times they hadn’t been close to each other were exhausting and frustrating, but still she had a great time with her. She was glad that her friend was able to spend the rest of the show without drama and only Lincoln. Clarke hoped that this would happen to her sooner or later.

"Anyway, let’s get to the challenge. This one's for the girls and Jackson of course."

Costia turned her face towards Clarke and sent her a soft smile. The blonde responded with a quizzed look on her face but she just waved her off. "Just trying to figure out if you’re excited."

Clarke frowned a bit before laughing lightly. "Why would I be?" Costia’s eyes widened for a second. She then turned around and pointed at Bellamy before she turned back to Clarke. She was still confused and didn’t quite understand what she wanted to tell her, until she did.

"Well, I bet you guys want to try to win this challenge so you can get into the Truth Booth."

The blonde blinked a few times but shook her head instantly when she understood what Costia was trying to say. "No, not really," she muttered, causing Costia to frown this time. "We… don’t think we are a match. It would only rob a potential couple their chance to be confirmed."

Costia had a weird expression on her face that Clarke couldn’t quite figure out. She was definitely shocked about her response, but there was something else she couldn’t read. Before she could answer, the guys on the left side started groaning and muttered some swears. She turned her face around to take a look at the girls behind her who were actually grinning.

And then there was Raven’s comment.

"We’re going to get all the tea, guys. Be aware of that! Never thought I would like a challenge."

Clarke spun her head to Costia who just shrugged her shoulders. The blonde sighed and turned around to Echo. The brunette was staring at Aryana and for a second, she thought of not asking her what the challenge was about, but then the girl sighed.

"They brought a few of the guys’ exes here. They’ll be at the house and as soon as we get there, each girl and Miller has five minutes to talk with an ex. After that, we come back and get asked a question about the guys and we have to say which sentence is correct."

Clarke smiled and parted her lips to say ‘thank you’ but Echo just held up her hand, shutting her down. The blonde sighed and turned back to the front, listening to Aryana’s last words.

"As soon as each one of you had a talk with the ex and the guy on their side, you’ll all come back here and the questioning starts. The getaway date will be a day at the Third Street Promenade for the winners. Can’t wait to see you!"

They all clapped one last time before they made their way back to the mansion.

Clarke didn’t know if she liked that challenge or not. For her, personally it was way better that they would get to know the exes of the guys rather than their exes coming. She never talked to her ex-boyfriend after the whole cheating fiasco and her casual hook-ups didn’t count as an ex, so, she was glad about it. If she was being honest, she couldn’t wait to get all the dirty secrets from the guys’ exes.

# # # # # # # # # #

12.25 pm. 

Clarke made her way over to Zeke and his ex-girlfriend’s table first. She learned that her name was Anna and that she was twenty-two years old.

"So," Clarke started after they finished introducing each other. "How long had you guys been together?"

Anna smiled lightly and pushed her hair to the side. "We were together for two years, seven weeks, and five days."

Clarke thought her eyebrows would fall off her face if she wouldn’t stop being shocked by that information. It wasn’t like she didn’t expect Zeke to have a long-term relationship. It just seemed weird that his ex still knew the exact date they broke up. Apparently, she wasn’t that over him yet.

She turned her face to Zeke who was looking in another direction. He was probably annoyed by his ex’s behaviour, but she couldn’t do anything against it herself. To be honest, she even thought that it was funny.

"Alright, you still love him, I suppose? I mean, it just seems like you do. I don’t want to sound rude or anything. What was the reason for your break up then?"

Anna sighed and took a look at Zeke before turning her attention back to Clarke. "He moved away, to another state. We kept a long-distance relationship at first, but it didn’t work out… for him. So, we called things off. Well, no, he did."

Zeke groaned and faced his ex. "For good reasons," he sighed. "You never came to visit me in Atlanta. I always had to come to you so we could see each other. I’m sorry about the way I broke things off, but that still was one of the choices I won’t regret. It had to happen."

Clarke scratched the back of her head, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. There was still some unresolved tension between the two and it somehow felt like Zeke couldn’t move on from that. He hadn’t made any real connection to someone in the house yet and she thought it was because of his past relationship. It definitely would make sense, but in order to win this game, he had to stop thinking about it.

"Uh, yeah, got it. I think five minutes are over in a few seconds anyway. It was nice to meet you, Anna." she said, soft smile on her lips.

The girl nodded and returned it before Clarke turned on her heels and looked around. There was still nobody in front of Murphy’s table, so she decided to walk over. He was grinning at her as soon as he saw her coming and she returned it easily. When she got there, they did their handshake which confused his ex, but Clarke just waved it off and took a look at her instead. She had black hair that reached her breasts and lighter skin. She was pretty, though; she wouldn’t lie there.

"Clarke, this is Rebecca. Rebecca, Clarke."

The blonde nodded and placed her elbows on the table. "Nice to meet you."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to ask the first question. Clarke snorted a bit, side-eying Murphy who still had a grin on his face. His ex noticed and rolled her eyes.

"Will you ask a question already?"

Murphy turned his head to Rebecca and laughed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "No need to be so rude today. Chill, it’s just Clarke. She has no interest in me at all. Her heart is taken by someone else."

Clarke slapped Murphy’s arm who just started laughing harder than before. Therefore, she couldn’t hear what his ex-girlfriend muttered under her breath, but it didn’t seem like something nice. She definitely was annoyed by the situation. Still, Clarke thought it was funny.

"Anyway," she said, turning her attention back to Rebecca. "Wanna tell me how Murphy is in a relationship? And please… be detailed."

The girl raised her eyebrow and looked at Murphy who just told her to go ahead. She turned her attention back to Clarke and shrugged her shoulders.

"Ain’t as bad as people might think. It just the same way he behaves around his closest friends, but he cares more I think. And of course the sex. He never did casual hook-ups, so yeah."

Clarke nodded to herself. "Never did casual hook-ups… so you guys were friends before?"

"Yep, best friends. We’re not anymore, but we still get along," Rebecca answered, shrugging her shoulders once again.

"Any other questions, Griffin? Or are you ready to meet Be-"

Clarke just cut him off. "Just shut up." Murphy snorted but shrugged his shoulders. She turned her face back to Rebecca, thinking of anything she could ask her next, but she really wasn’t interested in Murphy, in any way. She considered him more as one of her best friends, so she decided against it. "Anyway, I have no other questions."

The two nodded and just at the same time, the alarm rang, telling them to switch up again. Murphy and Clarke did their handshake again before she walked over to Finn and his ex-girlfriend. She didn’t even want to talk to him and didn’t consider him as a match at all, but she still had to play the game. So, she got her shit together and asked the both of them a few questions.

She asked the most important question first; why they broke up. His ex, Marie, told her that it was a mutual ending since they both wanted to focus on work, and a relationship would’ve taken that away. Obviously, Clarke wanted to know how Finn had been in times of them being together so she could figure out if he actually was behaving the same way or if he was just acting here and pretended to be a good guy. But apparently, he didn’t fake anything.

Marie told her that he was an actual sweetheart and when he loved someone, he wouldn’t let go that easily. That was also the reason why it took them five months to finally end things between them. But even then, Clarke thought that he wasn’t her perfect match and she was glad when the alarm rang again. She said goodbye to Marie and turned on her heels before walking over to Roan.

He had no expression on his face when she arrived there. Meanwhile, his ex was grinning and one brow was lifted. Clarke was confused but she shrugged it off, knowing that she had to find her perfect match and in order to do so, she had to talk with Roan and his ex-girlfriend.

"Hey, I’m-"

"Clarke. I know. Roan told me that you’re taking his spot. I’m Ontari," the girl said, smirk growing wider on her lips.

The blonde nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. "Alright then… why did you guys started dating?" Ontari snorted and rolled her eyes.

Clarke didn’t know what that meant and she began to slightly feel uncomfortable. She wasn’t intimidated or anything, she just found it quite weird that Roan and Ontari were acting like that. Sure, she was used to Roan being more distant from her and sometimes she tried to figure out why exactly. It couldn’t just be because of the whole friend thing. But then again, she just tried to focus on herself and that’s what she wanted to do now.

"We dated because our parents wanted to. Never worked out, but we stayed together for them until I decided to call it quits. I left. Our parents weren’t happy about it, but they died later anyway," Ontari said, shrugging her shoulders at the same time.

Clarke thought that she didn’t care about the fact that their parents died by the way she openly talked about it. It was just so weird for her to believe it, but she didn’t want to ask about it either. So, she just let it go and nodded slowly.

"Okay… well. I don’t really know what to ask anymore since you answered everything I wanted to know I guess." she said, not really believing herself.

Ontari lifted one of her brows and shrugged her shoulders. "Then let me ask you some questions."

"Wait, wh-"

"What do you like about Roan?" Ontari asked her with a smirk on her lips.

Now Clarke had to think because it wasn’t like she had a lot of conversations with Roan, perhaps only three or four. All they had talked about was Bellamy. So, she didn’t know him that much and couldn’t tell his ex what she liked. How? He was distant to her anyway and it didn’t seem like he wanted to talk to her either. Slowly, Clarke thought it was because he wanted to choose Bellamy at the Matching Ceremony, but it wasn’t her fault.

The blonde cleared her throat and tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear.

"I don’t think I know him well enough to tell you what I like about him," she replied.

Ontari frowned, grin still on her lips as she nodded slowly. She turned to Roan and Clarke did the same because she wanted to see his reaction, but he wasn’t looking at her or Ontari. Clarke sighed and turned her face to the alarm, thanking the lord for the time to be over now.

"Anyway," she said, taking a step backwards at the same time. "It was nice to know you, bye."

That’s all Clarke said before turning around and walking to a girl that stood behind a table on her own. It kind of confused her since that wasn’t how it was supposed to be, but she didn’t think about it further. The girl had curly brown hair and brown eyes from as far as she could see. She wasn’t wearing any make up which surprised her a little bit, but she was still beautiful.

Clarke stopped in front of the table and sent her a soft smile. "Hey, I’m Clarke."

The brown-haired smiled as she tilted her head to the side but walked over to her side and pulled her into a hug. Clarke was surprised at first and didn’t quite understand why she was hugging her, but in the end, she went with the explanation that she just wanted to be friendly. So, she hugged her back and continued smiling.

When the girl pulled away, she nodded lightly to herself before walking back to the other side of the table. "I’m Gina, by the way."

Now things made sense.

"I should’ve guessed that," Clarke said, still smiling at her.

Gina waved her off with her hand before she raked her fingers through her curly hair. "Don’t worry, Clarke. He didn’t tell you what I look like, so it’s totally fine. How are you?"

Alright, Clarke knew exactly why Bellamy said that she was the nicest and most humble person he ever met. Instead of telling her to ask her a question already, Gina started with small talk first and Clarke liked that because it was weird just asking about the relationship and how and also why things ended between them. So, she just laughed lightly and answered her question.

"I’m good. Better than the past few days. What about you?"

Gina smiled. "I’m fine myself," she leaned a bit forward and Clarke did the same. "To be honest, I was a little bit nervous about coming here because of all the cameras and stuff, but it’s not as bad as I thought."

Clarke’s smile grew wider as she leaned back and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, that’s normal. I mean, I’m used to them now. There are cameras everywhere and as you can see, they look over our shoulders pretty often, so."

Gina chuckled and cleared her throat to get back to being serious. "Alright," she started, "Do you want to know anything? I mean, you kinda have to right? For the challenge?"

Clarke nodded. She didn’t know what she should ask Gina about the relationship with Bellamy. He never told her anything, except for the fact that they were dating for a year before he fucked up. She didn’t want to ask her behind his back what he meant. There wasn’t much she actually planned on asking in the first place, but she decided to start off with the basics.

"Well, I think I’ll just ask you how he is in a relationship? Like, describe it in three words, perhaps."

"Oh, that’s easy," Gina said, smile on her lips. "He’s just like always, that’s what you need to know first, so don’t think the cockiness or the sassy jokes will be gone if you get into a relationship with him. But he’s selfless… definitely supportive, like whatever you want to do, he has your back and you can count on him. And he’s loyal, always. Yeah, I would say that."

Clarke laughed lightly, knowing exactly what Gina was talking about. "Could’ve guessed that."

Gina smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I don’t think it should be a secret to you, Clarke."

The blonde furrowed her brows a bit and crooked her head to the side. Something was happening right now and she couldn’t figure out what it was. The brown-haired girl definitely tried to tell her something, but she didn’t get it. Yet, she also didn’t want Gina to think that she was dumb either, so she cleared her throat and raked her fingers through her hair, adjusting it to the side again, just like it had been before.

"Sorry, what do you mean?" she asked instead, hoping that it wouldn’t sound as stupid as she seemed to be.

"I’m here for like what? Half an hour? I’m standing behind this table alone because Bellamy wanted to get some ‘water’. He left as soon as you turned towards us, never focused on anybody who talked to us before. He just kept looking at you. I mean… I don’t want to say something wrong, but I’m pretty sure that he’s in love with you and as far as I can tell, you’re in love with him, too."

Clarke didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She had no clue why Gina was saying this and who told her something like this, but it kind of started getting on her nerves that everyone assumed that.

She scratched the back of her head before she added her thoughts to what Gina just said.

"Look, I know that you’re his ex-girlfriend and should… know him very well. I’m not saying that you don’t, but in this case you’re wrong. We’re just friends…"

Gina tilted her head to the side and nodded slowly. "Did he tell you?" Clarke blinked a few times, trying to understand what she meant by it. _Did he tell you_ … tell her what? That he loved her? She shook her head and parted her lips to say something but Gina was faster. "Did he tell you about why he was in prison?"

Clarke closed her mouth again and sighed. She should’ve known that she was talking about that. And in some way, she thought she knew why Gina was asking her this. He didn’t tell anyone else about it, as far as she knew, so she was the only one, next to Octavia and her, that knew why.

"Yeah, he did. Why does this matter?" Gina shook her head and parted her lips this time, but the alarm caused her to smile instead.

"You have to go…" Clarke nodded and took a step backwards from the table, ready to say her goodbyes and walk to someone else. "But, Clarke!" she stopped and looked at her again. She couldn’t read the expression on the girl’s face and it irritated her, but then Gina smiled and walked over to her again. "Don’t let him go, okay? You’ll regret it if you do."

Clarke wanted to say something, tell her that she would try not to, but Raven pushed her away from standing in front of Gina.

"Clarkey, next round, go find someone else," she said with a big smile on her face.

The blonde nodded and mouthed Gina a ‘goodbye’ and ‘I will’ before she walked over to Miller and his ex.

And she meant what she wanted to tell Gina; she would try to keep Bellamy as close as possible. 

# # # # # # # # # #

An hour later, the whole group was freaking out about how the challenge ended.

Miller and Jackson _finally_ won the getaway challenge, next to Roan and Luna, and Jasper and Harper. But they only really cared for the first pair because fucking finally. They had been waiting to get them inside the Truth Booth since week one now and after they fucked up all the challenges they had before, they finally managed to win one.

Everyone knew what that meant: they would get another perfect match, since everyone voted them into the Truth Booth, and because of that, they decided to celebrate with junk food (Aryana allowed them to order food this time because they were so excited about how the week would turn out for them), music, and lots of alcohol. They didn’t care about most likely being drunk later at the time of the Truth Booth, they just wanted to celebrate that they found another perfect match. Two matches in a row. How could they not?

So that was exactly what they decided to do in the end, throwing a party for the new match.

# # # # # # # # # #

6.45 pm.

Clarke placed her clothes inside of her drawer before closing it slowly. She didn’t drink as much as she did on her birthday night and tried to be more rational this time, so now she was just tipsy. She knew that it would change if it were to be confirmed in a few minutes that Miller and Jackson were a perfect match. She was excited for Miller because he really wanted to get into the Truth Booth since he began liking Jackson in the first week, and it was what he deserved.

She smiled to herself by the thought of how happy her friend would be as she got into her pyjamas. It was way too early for her to wear them, but she was in the mood to be as comfortable as she could be. So, some cute white pyjama pants with clouds on it and a matching buttoned-shirt was what she decided to wear.

Clarke stepped in front of the mirror and used the scrunchy that was around her wrist to put her hair back into a small ponytail. It was the first time (except for when she was going to bed) that she decided to let her see through bangs show and she still liked it as much as she did before. Sure, she still had to get used to it a lot since it was still new for her, but in a few days, it would be normal if she would wear a look that showed them more often. Perhaps, she would try to do a hairstyle with see through bangs for the next Matching Ceremony. Yeah, that’s what she would do.

The blonde turned around on her heels just as the door to the closet opened. Unsurprisingly, it was Bellamy.

"Who else would follow me when I say I’m going to change," she said, a little smile on her face. Bellamy snorted in response while closing the door behind him.

Clarke knew that he hadn’t been drinking much, either. She didn’t know if it was because he tried to be rational this time, or if he just hadn’t felt like getting drunk tonight. However, the reason wasn’t important to her. It only mattered that he was sober enough to get into a serious conversation with her. She didn’t have the chance to ask him about what she talked about with Gina yet. Actually, there wasn’t much to ask him about that but she still wanted to tell him since he was her ex. And as far as she could tell, they didn’t hate each other and ended things in a good way.

"I’m not going to say sorry for leaving the sex room party. You know I don’t dance."

This time Clarke was the one who snorted because him and her both knew that it wasn’t the truth. If she didn’t want to talk to him about her conversation with Gina, then she would have definitely dropped that comment, but instead, she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him.

"You alright?" Bellamy asked her as he made his way towards her. She nodded and met him halfway only to place her hand on his chest and push him backwards. "What?"

Clarke shook her head and stopped in front of her dresser before she jumped on top of it to sit down. Bellamy lifted a brow but didn’t say anything. He just stepped in between her legs and placed his hands on either side. He didn’t say anything next, just tilted his head to the side, confusion written on his face. The blonde just shook her head and slid her hands under her thighs.

"I’m fine, just want to talk to you about something."

Bellamy frowned but only for a brief moment. He motioned her to continue with his hand as he cleared his throat. She had no idea what he thought she would want to discuss with him, but it seemed like he got a little bit uncomfortable. That’s not how Clarke wanted him to be so she just smiled softly before she shrugged her shoulders.

"You weren’t there when I talked to Gina at the challenge," she said quietly, unsure of what he would say. But as soon as he opened his mouth to say something, she didn’t want to hear it and just kept talking. "Which isn’t a bad thing, for me at least. It was just surprising, but she’s really nice."

Bellamy stood up correctly and folded his arms in front of his chest.

Clarke knew what that meant. He tried to figure out where she wanted to go with this and to be honest, she wasn’t sure herself. Of course, she had questions, like why they did break up at first or if he really only had eyes for her while she was doing the challenge like Gina said. But then again, she knew that he wouldn’t answer the second question seriously and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer anyway.

Still, Bellamy was waiting for her to continue talking so that was what she did.

"I don’t know exactly where I want this conversation to end up but… I mean it. She’s extremely nice and while I was talking to her, I could feel that she is a good person. I didn’t even have the chance to really ask her something about the relationship you two had and how…" she trailed off only to clear her throat, "it ended. We… mostly talked about how you are in a relationship and she pointed out how you behaved."

Bellamy crooked his head to the side. "Get to the point, Clarke."

"So rude today," she said, half sarcastic half serious. He just rolled his eyes at the same time. It was clear that he was trying to hide a smile. "Anyway, she just said that she noticed how you kept staring at me and all that."

"Well, that’s not my fault. You decided to wear my red hoodie paired with grey leggings. You didn’t even bother to cover your-"

"Stop right there. You don’t choose what I’m allowed to wear and what not!" Now Bellamy was grinning and Clarke hated it because now she figured that he didn’t want to say this. "Uh-"

"That’s right. I don’t think you want me to finish that sentence but yeah. Couldn’t stop looking."

Clarke shook her head and leaned forward to hit his forearm. "You only care about my body."

"I don’t have to look at your body to know that you’re gorgeous."

The blonde parted her lips to say something, but she didn’t know what. She didn’t expect him to say this as response so it kind of threw her out of the train. It didn’t make it better that she could feel her cheeks heating up and of course he noticed it himself; she was blushing.

"Don’t," Bellamy smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Clarke sighed but kept going. "Whatever, you wanna tell me why you left then? Like a pussy?"

"Pussy? Alright. No, seriously. I don’t know. Guess I knew what Gina was planning to do after she asked me who I was currently spending most of my time with. I said that it was you, that we get along pretty well and she asked me if we were having sex. I was just being honest," he said casually.

Clarke nodded as she started playing with her pyjama pants, not meeting his gaze but instead keeping hers on them. "What else did you tell her?"

"Let me see," Bellamy said while getting back to stand between her legs. "I told her how we met on the plane, how we ended things pretty early on, how we’re back doing it. I don’t know, just what has happened between us. That wrong?"

Clarke shook her head before she lifted it again, now looking back at him in the eyes. "No, it’s not," she smiled a bit, then pushed his hair out of his face. "It’s totally okay, she’s your ex after all. And if you two are still good, she’s allowed to know. I mean, she hugged me when I got to her, so I think it’s okay."

"She hugged you, huh?" Bellamy asked, grin on his lips. She shrugged her shoulders a bit then nodded. "Well, guess she approved of you then."

"Approved me? Bellamy, what the hell?" He just started laughing and cupped her chin to be able to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Mhm," Clarke kissed him again while thinking of what else there was to tell him. Nothing else happened and she still wouldn’t tell him about how she took a pregnancy test because she thought she was pregnant. "Nope. There’s nothing else I want to talk about."

"Good." He leaned back and wrapped his arms around the small of her back, helping her down. "You ready to get drunk then?"

Clarke snorted and unwrapped his arms around her before getting on her tiptoes and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Yeah, let’s get our second match."

With that, they walked out of the closet and made their way downstairs, ready for their fifth Truth Booth and their second perfect match.

# # # # # # # # # # 

7 pm.

"Guys! Ready for this one?" Aryana shouted, making each one of them reply loudly with either screaming ‘yes’ or… well, just screaming. The host thought it was pretty funny and for once, Bellamy thought so, too.

After weeks of witnessing how badly Miller wanted to get into the Booth with Jackson, he would finally find out that he was his perfect match. There wasn’t anything he wanted more for his friend, so obviously he was excited about the Truth Booth today. He and all the others hadn’t been for a long time, but it seemed to be a good day not only for him and his friends, but also for the rest of the participants.

Switching rooms helped them get to know each other more and the fact that they all had been glad about Miller and Jackson winning the getaway challenge, just brought them closer again. So, this week really was going good until now and he really hoped that it would stay like this.

"Well, I don’t think we have to wait any longer then, right? It’s pretty clear who you guys voted into the Truth Booth but just to show you again, here they are."

Miller’s and Jackson’s picture came up on the TV screen Aryana was standing next to and as soon as it loaded, everyone started clapping and cheering for them. The pair rose up from their stools and since Bellamy was sitting on the couch in front of him, he just turned his torso around and hand wrestled Miller. He grinned at him whereupon Bellamy winked and turned back around to face Aryana again.

"That’s it. Now I can’t really help you guys anymore and have to leave. But before I do so, I’ll tell you something we have planned for you."

Clarke, who was sitting to Bellamy’s left, scooted closer to him and placed her chin on his shoulder.

"What do you think she means?" she asked him, but he had no idea himself.

"Guess we’ll find out."

And they did.

"There is a beach party on Friday at Venice Beach and because it’s half-time and you usually have your house party every Friday, we thought why not let you go have some fun at the Beach?"

"Fuck yes!" Jasper screamed while running over to Aryana and hugging her. The rest of the group started celebrating the news by getting up and clapping again.

The host laughed and hugged Jasper back but only for a few seconds before she motioned everyone to calm down. Each one of the participants who was still there sat back down again.

"You get picked up at 8 am and cars will wait for you at 1 pm at the beach. Each one of you can decide when to get back to the mansion, but stay in groups of four. Other than that… I hope that you’re going to have fun. Don’t forget to make connections as always. Sometimes you think you are someone’s perfect match even though you aren’t. Just like the other way around. See you on Sunday!"  

With that, Aryana walked out of the house and left them alone again. Now, it was time for them to finally get confirmed that Miller and Jackson were a perfect match. They had been sitting together at the Matching Ceremony since day one, so they had to be one of the beams.

Bellamy turned his head to the side, taking a look at Clarke who had her eyes closed. He smiled slightly to himself and pushed her bangs out of the way, whereupon she opened her eyes again and sat up correctly.

"Don’t ruin my hair, Blake," she said warningly, but he knew she wasn’t serious, not with the way she was trying to hide her grin.

"Sure," he said while pulling her closer to him. He turned his head back to the direction of the TV and waited for the result just like everyone else.

They were surprisingly silent now, somehow tense about the whole situation. Each one’s eyes were locked on the screen, but they were also ready in position to jump up from the couch to freak out over their second perfect match.

Seconds and seconds passed with no change of the picture on the screen and it caused everyone to get nervous with each moment that passed. Nobody wanted to think about how Miller and Jackson must feel standing there inside of the Truth Booth and waiting to finally see ‘perfect match’ written on the screen in front of them. They could only imagine how they felt and they definitely didn’t want to be in their position.

But after what felt like an eternity, the picture on the TV screen finally changed.

_"Oh my God!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...no match, perfect match, who knows? comment down below! 
> 
> and of course gina isn't blind and sees whats going on between bellamy and clarke. who do you think will realize their feelings for the other one first? i'm curious to see your thoughts cause it'll happen sooner than you think. 
> 
> other than that, much love to each one of you and see you on sunday! xo


	19. Chapter 19

_No Match._

Just like Sasha, who had been the one to express her reaction to Miller and Jackson not being a match first, everyone in the living room was in shock. It was unusually quiet after the group was done screaming. Instead, they now had their eyes fixed on the screen in front of them, not realizing that ‘no match’ was really written on it. They had been convinced that Miller and Jackson were a perfect match. They celebrated beforehand… for nothing. No new match. Everything had been for nothing.

"No, no, no…" Jasper murmured when rising up from his seat, "This must be a mistake. They… guys, tell me that they made a mistake here. There should be ‘perfect match’ written. Guys…"

After Bellamy had been sitting on the edge of the couch, he slid to the back of it again and let his head fall off the armrest. He couldn’t believe that this just happened. It was everything they wanted… what Miller wanted, and there was no way he could blame his friend. Miller had been invested in this relationship he built and now he had to break it off and search for his perfect match. Bellamy could only imagine how his friend was feeling right now.

"So… they’re no match and what does that mean for us now?" Clarke asked next to him, whereas he just sighed. He had no clue what they were supposed to do since everything they did until now was wrong.

Bellamy sat up correctly again and tilted his chin at Monty. "Any ideas?"

Monty sat down on the coffee table in front of the whole group just as the door to the living room opened again. Everyone turned their heads around, looking at the pair that just came out of the Truth Booth. Jackson left immediately after Miller squeezed his shoulder. He himself made his way over to the rest of their friends and sat down next to Murphy.

"How do you feel?" Bellamy asked, trying to sound as normal as possible. Miller wasn’t someone who would cry about this result, but he was sure it was still unexpected and that it kind of hurt.

Miller shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Well… we made you think that we’re a match and that’s the only reason why you guys voted us into the Booth. So, we wanted to apologize for that."

It was pretty clear that nobody agreed to what Miller just said. Everyone started talking, telling him that it wasn’t their fault and that they just wanted to play the game. But now, they all knew that they weren’t playing it right until now. There was only one way to get back on track and figure out who was each other’s match and get to win the money at the end of the tenth week.

"Okay, listen," Bellamy said, raising his voice a bit so everyone would stop talking. When they did and turned their attention to him, he faced Monty again. "The first day we came here you said something about strategy. I think it’s time to involve us and say what you have until now."

Monty nodded and swept his eyes over the whole group. Bellamy really hoped that this could help them get more beams at the Matching Ceremony because it was time for them to get more than just four beams.

"Alright," Monty started, "Basically, I tried to figure out who’s a match by what I learned from each person and, of course, who sat together at the last ceremonies."

"Makes sense, " Murphy added by cutting Monty off. The latter sent him a light glare as Murphy just held up his hands in surrender. "Keep going."

"Sure… now that Miller and Jackson aren’t a perfect match, it kinda destroys some of my thoughts, but I’ll fix that as soon as possible. I’m pretty sure that Lexa and Costia are a match. As far as I know, both of you didn’t spend time with other people yet. That is, except for Lexa. But based on the drama that happened with Clarke, I’m certain that you guys are a match. We should try to get you into the Booth next week."

Wells cleared his throat to turn everyone’s attention to him but he still didn’t say anything. So, Bellamy tilted his chin at the other one, motioning him to say whatever he wanted to add.

"I just… look, we said the same about Miller and Jackson but now we found out that they aren’t a match, so why should we do this again with Lexa and Costia?" he questioned.

To be honest, he wasn’t wrong. Bellamy wanted to have Monty’s back, but there was still the possibility of Clarke being Lexa’s match, even if they didn’t plan on getting together in the end. That was something all of them kept forgetting. Everyone could be one’s match without the intent of actually developing feelings or having a connection to them. Luna could be his match although he had no conversation with her yet except for telling her to go get Clarke when he got the bathroom ready as her birthday present.

Anything was possible, but he still believed that Monty was smart enough to figure a few things out.

"I mean, " Bellamy started, getting involved now. "Is anybody else here bisexual or pan, lesbian, whatever? Because we should figure that out first. "

Harper nodded and added something herself. "Yeah, we should probably know first what preferences each one of us has because the game is now harder for us since it doesn’t matter in this season." 

They all agreed that this was what they should figure out first. So, everyone opened up about it and said what their sexuality was.

Bellamy started first, saying that he was pansexual just like Raven, Roan, Wells and Luna. Clarke followed and told them that she was bisexual, whereupon Octavia, Emori, Jackson and Monty said the same. Lexa, Costia, and Miller outed themselves as gay, whilst the rest (Zeke, Lincoln, Murphy, Jasper, Finn, Echo, Harper, Maya, and Sasha) said that they were straight.

Fun fact: it didn’t change things.

It just confused them even more since that meant that there were a lot of options for perfect matches. Monty noticed that this made things for him even harder, but he was still one hundred percent sure that Lexa and Costia were a perfect match. Nobody questioned his decision; they just went along with it and hoped that they would get it confirmed next week. Lexa promised that she and Costia would try their best to win the getaway challenge, whatever it would be about.

"Alright," Raven said while getting up from the couch. "I’m at the point where I’m tired of this game. I was sick on Monday, today we got to know that Miller and Jackson are no match, and the fact that there are less straight people here just makes it worse for us. Of course, no hate. Just… now we have to actually build connections and cut things off whenever we figure out that a pair is no match. Miller and Jackson are in love and now they have to end things!? That’s bullshit! Seriously, I’m going to bed."

Clarke reached out for Raven but couldn’t do anything before the brunette left to go upstairs. It seemed like everyone else agreed to what she had said because the rest started getting up too and left the first floor after saying their goodbyes.

In the end, the only ones left in the living room were Bellamy, Monty, and Clarke.

Bellamy sighed and used his fingers to mess up his hair before rubbing his forehead a bit. Monty was still sitting on the coffee table in front of him while Clarke stood up and walked over to the kitchen area to get herself water.

There was nothing he could say about this whole situation because in the end, he understood where Raven was coming from. It only made everything harder that their season was the first to have multiple sexualities on the show. Plus, it was half-time already, so they didn’t have much time to figure out who was a match.

This game sucked.

Clarke walked over to them again and sat down on Bellamy’s lap, blocking his view of Monty. But he didn’t mind since there was nothing to talk about anymore. Not for him.

But for Clarke.

"So, before we all talked about what we are… who was a match in your mind?" she asked their friend.

Bellamy could hear Monty sigh and he knew that he was exhausted because in the end, everyone was hoping for the beautiful mind of his to come through and be the reason why they would win the money.

"You want to hear all my thoughts?" Bellamy saw how Clarke nodded and although he was getting a bit tired, he held up his thumb to show Monty that he should start talking. "Alright, let me get my stuff."

With that, he ran upstairs and left Bellamy alone with Clarke.

The blonde turned around, now sitting sideways on his lap, a soft smile on her lips.

"Are you okay?" she asked and he just nodded. She tilted her head to the side and sent him a knowing look. Bellamy rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the little grin that was making its way on his lips.

"I’m fine, don’t worry. It’s just frustrating to see that we somehow didn’t get any further." He exclaimed.

Clarke nodded and threw her right leg over, so that she was now sitting on his lap while facing him.

"Yeah, I know… you think we’re going to lose the money?"

Bellamy scoffed as he placed his hands on her hips. "I hope we won’t, but it doesn’t look good right now." Clarke nodded again as she looked down at her hands which she used to play with the hem of his shirt. "Hey…"

The blonde lifted her head, looking him back in the eyes. He just smiled a bit before placing his hand on hers, making her stop playing with his shirt in a nervous manner.

"It’ll be fine. I trust and believe in Monty, though. He says he has a plan, so let’s believe him."

"Okay…" Clarke said returning his smile.

In the meantime, Monty made his way back to them and she left his lap, sitting next to him instead. She placed her head on his shoulder, whereupon he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. Monty took his seat on the coffee table in front of them again and organized the papers in his hands.

"So…" he started, sweeping his eyes over the first paper. "Right…" Monty lifted his head again to keep his eyes fixed on him and Clarke. "We left the first Matching Ceremony with three beams. Since Miller and Jackson aren’t a match, they’re out. Just like Finn and Clarke being one. And Bellamy you’re not Raven’s. That’s what I’m absolutely sure about."

Bellamy raised one of his brows before he responded to his friend.

"You think Clarke’s my match?"

Monty rolled his eyes. "Yes, Clarke and you are a perfect match, believe it or not guys."

Clarke, next to him, snorted and for a reason, it made him smirk a little. It was good knowing that they were thinking the same. They were no match.

"Anyway… Octavia and Lincoln, of course, are one. Then Lexa and Costia. I assume that the third match is either Murphy and Emori, or me and Sasha, but I’m not sure."

Bellamy nodded before he ran his hand over his face. "Yeah, alright. So you think everyone else is no match? I don’t even remember who was sitting together at the first ceremony."

Monty leaned forward and handed him the paper, which he wanted to grab himself but as soon as he shifted a bit, Clarke groaned and that made him stop. He turned his head to the side and only by seeing her with her eyes closed, he knew that she was trying to sleep.

Bellamy faced Monty again. "Sorry," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb Clarke any further. "You want to talk about it another time? I think the princess is tired."

Clarke growled and he just smiled again. Monty waved him off and rose up from the coffee table.

"Don’t worry, it’s probably better to tell everyone and not only the two of you." Monty uttered.

Bellamy nodded and stood up, causing Clarke to groan, but before she could say anything, he turned around and bent down a bit. Apparently, she understood immediately since she got onto his back seconds later, still slowly which showed him that she was really tired.

He tightened his grip under her legs before he followed Monty out of the living and kitchen area. Monty waited for Bellamy to pass him, which he did and his friend turned the lights off afterwards. They made their way back upstairs in silence although he knew that none of the other competitors were currently sleeping. It was way too early for that.

When the trio reached the bedrooms, Monty opened the door to the one Bellamy and Clarke slept in. He thanked him for doing so but Monty just waved him off and wished him a goodnight before he walked inside the room he slept in, closing the door behind him.

"Alright, princess. Let’s go to bed then." 

Bellamy turned around again and saluted into the camera before he entered the bedroom with a sleeping blonde on his back. And to be honest, he couldn’t wait to fall asleep himself.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 5, Day 28 – Thursday. Los Angeles. 1 am.

Clarke had no idea why she was awake, but here she was. She should be sleeping, yet she was laying on her spine and did nothing but think about what happened some hours ago.

And that was the reason why she had been up for half an hour already.

They didn’t get a confirmed match for the fourth time in this show and the week was almost over. It seemed like they had no luck at all and everything they did was wrong. She didn’t even know when they did something correct except for voting Octavia and Lincoln into the Booth. Other than that? They fucked up constantly. How were they supposed to get back on track and end up winning a million dollars? Finding love in this house seemed to be impossible with various personalities and even if you let yourself get invested in a ‘relationship’, there always was something that ruined it.

Clarke had enough of it. She hated this game, she really did.

How was she supposed to find her perfect match if the people they thought were one always turned out to not be one? There was no fucking way that she would ever find her match and it disturbed and upset her all at once because that was why she decided to take part in this. She wanted to fall in love again, with a person she could trust, who would do anything for her, and who could make her happy. But now, she wasn’t sure what was even real and what not.

Where should she even start?

Right. Her being bisexual perhaps. She could end up with anyone in this house. Alright, not everyone. Echo, Maya, Sasha, and Harper were straight, so of course there was no way that one of them could be her match. Lexa, Costia, and Miller were out of the game too, just like Lincoln and Octavia. That reduced the number of people who could be her match already, but it still wasn’t good enough. She needed more signs, she needed more time, and she definitely needed more conversations with the rest of people that she could consider as her perfect match.

But it was fucking hard, especially because each one of the participants already built connections to someone if they weren’t currently falling in love like Sasha and Monty or Maya and Wells. She would never get in between and tell her friends to fuck off so she could see if Monty or Wells were her match. She just couldn’t do it and she wouldn’t until things between them would end which, of course, she didn’t wish for.

And that was why she was spending her time with Bellamy instead.

Well, that didn’t sound like she wanted to think about. She loved spending time with him, being close to him, and that wouldn’t change. They were having sex again even though they both were convinced of not being each others’ match.

Clarke sighed and sat up slowly. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Her head was full of trying to put herself together with different people, but in the end, she was never close to being happy about how she paired herself up and could barely remember what she had in common with a person. It really frustrated her and if she wouldn’t start talking about it with someone, she would lose her mind.

The blonde turned her head to the right, looking at Bellamy whose face was lit by the moonlight coming from the outside. She smiled to herself as she watched him sleep. He seemed to be at peace the way his face was relaxed, no wrinkle between his brows. Instead of his mouth being pressed into a thin line, his full lips came to light, and all she wanted to do was lean down and place a quick peck on them, but she didn’t want to wake him up either, so she let it go.

Instead, she slowly slid to the end of the bed and got up. She got into her slippers and took the water bottle that was standing on her nightstand before she tried to leave the bedroom as quietly as possible. Since it was pitch black right now, she managed to hit the edge of the bed with her knee.

"Fuck!" she hissed in pain.

Clarke held onto her knee for a while until the pain started to vanish. Seconds, later she stood up correctly again and strolled over to the door.

"Griffin!"

The blonde spun around on her heels and frowned for a bit before she walked back to her bed.

"Bellamy?" she asked quietly, not so sure if she was still asleep or if she really woke him up.

"Damn right." Clarke could hear him getting up himself and how he made his way towards her by the footsteps against the floor. "What’s up?" 

They shouldn’t start talking in a room full of sleeping people so before she could respond anything, she reached for Bellamy’s hand in the dark and pulled him with her out of the room. As soon as they stood in the hallway, she let go, closed the door behind them, and flipped on the light. She then turned around and faced Bellamy again.

His hair was still messy from his sleep and he was definitely tired. Clarke felt bad about waking him up only because she wanted to get her thoughts together in another setting. Sure, she didn’t do it intentionally, but that didn’t change how she felt about this situation. However, Bellamy seemed to be less tired now since he had a worried look on his face.

Clarke just held her hand up, stopping him from saying anything. She dropped her hand seconds later and turned around on her heels, walking downstairs. Bellamy was following her in silence and she was thankful for that. Of course, she planned on going to sit outside on her own, but she didn’t mind his company at all. Actually, she was glad that he joined her freely without even thinking for a second to go back to sleep.

When they reached the first floor, Bellamy passed her and walked into the kitchen area. In the meantime, she turned off the light in the hallway before she followed him. He pulled the sliding door to the garden area open and took a step to the side, so she could walk out first. She thanked him quietly as she stepped out onto the terrace and flipped the light switch on.

"Want me to close the door again or should I leave it open?" 

Clarke turned her head to Bellamy and shook it lightly. "No, close it. I don’t want to wake up someone else."

"They wouldn’t wake up if the door were open, but alright." he added while closing the door.

The blonde rolled her eyes with a little smile on her lips before she walked over to the couch area. Before she sat down on the couch, she placed her water bottle on the table, took a blanket off the couch, and sat down. She covered herself with it and turned her head to the side to face Bellamy again, who was now making his way towards her with two burning candles in his hands. He placed them on the little table in front of them and she followed his movements with her eyes. Only then she noticed that he was wearing no shirt and it gave her goosebumps since it was fresh outside.

"Aren’t you cold?" she asked softly while he sat down next to her.

Bellamy faced her for a second before she saw him sweep his eyes up and down her. She frowned a little, waiting for him to say anything, but he didn’t. He just tugged on her blanket a bit while looking at her.

"We can share… if you’re willing to, of course," he added, winking at her at the same time.

Clarke rolled her eyes again. She had no idea how he could be in such a good mood after they got no confirmed match again and after he was torn out of his sleep.

Still, she scooted closer to him and threw the blanket over him, whereupon he paced his hand on the armrest of the couch, so she could snuggle herself into his side, which she did. He let her pull the blanket up to her chin and as soon as she was comfortable, he placed a kiss on the crown of her head.

They stayed like this for a while, none of them saying a word. Instead, Clarke listened to the wind, to the sounds of the night, and kept her gaze fixed on the burning candles in front of them. Meanwhile, Bellamy used his hand to slightly play with her hair or caress her spine up and down.

The setting and the vibe was so relaxing to Clarke that she thought of closing her eyes and just falling asleep, but she knew that Bellamy was waiting for her to tell him why she decided to leave the room at 1 am in the middle of the night instead of just going back to sleep. So, she kept her eyes open but sighed before she finally broke the silence between them.

"Who’s my match, Bellamy?"

She had no idea why she decided to ask him this question. How was he supposed to know the answer if she had nobody in mind either? This game was harder than she thought and with every day that passed, she lost hope in winning it.

Bellamy shifted a bit on his place and sighed. She knew that this wasn’t easy for him either so she could understand that she asking him this took him by surprise. Then he went back to fondling her skin under the shirt she had changed into before going to bed and she knew that he was fine with talking about it.

"Okay, who do you have in mind?"

Clarke cleared her throat as she started playing with the waistband of his sweats underneath the blanket.

"Alright, so… I’ve had conversations with everyone in this house. Makes it easier for me to… you know, put them together in two groups? If you know what I mean…"

"Yeah, I get it. Keep going." Bellamy commanded easily.

Clarke sat up correctly and turned around, facing him now. She put her head on his arm that was resting on the couch whilst putting her legs in his lap. He quirked up one of his brows but didn’t say anything. Instead, he placed his hand on her leg and tilted his chin at her, telling her to continue. She nodded lightly before she did.

"Basically… Lexa, Raven, Finn, Monty, Murphy… Wells, Jasper, and Jackson are those who I do not consider as a match. Oh, and you, of course."

Bellamy snorted. "Yeah, I know. So that means… Luna? Do you like her?" 

"I mean… I’ve spent time with her when I was with Lexa and she’s cool. I like her, yeah, but I feel like we wouldn’t fit? I don’t know…" she said, shrugging her shoulders at the same time.

"Understandable. I don’t see you with her, either." 

Clarke let go of his pants only to hit his arm. Bellamy smirked in response, followed by him actually laughing. And although she thought that it wasn’t funny at all, hearing him laugh made her smile.

"Whatever… I’m just thinking. There is only one person that is free for me to, you know, develop something with: Zeke. Because everyone else is already invested in a ‘relationship’ or I only see them as friends." 

Bellamy lifted up his free arm and ran his hand through his curls, messing them up even more.

"I mean… he really is the only person who didn’t get attached to anyone in this house yet, so try to figure out if he’s your match. You’re friends with him already, now just try to get to know him more. What did you think of his ex?"

Clarke sighed and moved closer to Bellamy, placing her head in the crook of his neck. She didn’t want to think about how awkward it was for her to stand there and remembering it reminded her of how she thought of Zeke not being ready for a relationship yet. In no way was he her match then, but who else was?

"You don’t think he’s your match, do you?" Bellamy asked her quietly and all she did in response was nod.

The blonde had no idea why she was even trying to find it out. Perhaps because this was what she’s supposed to do, that’s why she came here. _Fuck Monroe_. _Thanks, Monroe_. It changed almost everyday and she started asking herself when it would only be ‘thanks, Monroe’. She just wanted her wish to come through, but right now it seemed to look like the opposite.

"I just don’t see me being with any of those people. Either they’re just friends or they’re people I know, but don’t think we could ever be something."

Bellamy scoffed. "Aha and where exactly do I fit in?"

Clarke lifted her head and sat up correctly, rolling her eyes at him.

"You’re not in the first and not in the second," she said while pushing some curls away from of his forehead. "Nope, you’re special." 

"I’m special?" Bellamy repeated with a smug smirk on his lips.

Clarke shook her head and stood up, grabbing her water bottle next. "You’re such an asshole. Why do I even bother with you?" she muttered while trying to hide her own grin.

"Well, I know why you bother with me." Clarke groaned and turned around before walking away from the couch area, but it was impossible for her to get any further away since Bellamy grabbed her forearm and pulled her backwards, making her fall on top of him. "Where you think you’re going, Griffin?"

She hit his arm with her free hand. "Away from you, _Blake_. You’re a cocky asshole," she replied, grin still on her face.

"You like it when I’m a cocky asshole," he responded, letting her arm go.

Clarke got up, took the blanket off him and straddled him. "But I prefer it when you just shut your mouth," she added while putting the blanket over her shoulders and folding her arms around his neck.

"Is that so?" he questioned while raising a brow.

She tilted her head to the side and chewed on her lower lip for a second. "Mhm."

"Well, then make me."

Clarke grinned a bit before she took the blanket off their bodies and threw it on the ground. There was no need for it now or later, anyway. She ran her fingers through her hair, readjusting it to the side in a slow manner while she began circling her hips on him slowly. Bellamy slid a little bit down, bucking his hips up while doing so and placed his hands behind his head.

"I don’t think this is working, Clarke." 

She rolled her eyes. "Thoughts so," she muttered while reaching for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head shamelessly before letting it drop on the floor.

Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up just the way the smirk on his lips grew wider. He whistled, causing her to grin herself now and placed his hands on her hips instead of leaving them behind his head. But even there, they didn’t stay for long since Clarke took them away from her hips and slid them over her stomach up to her chest, placing each of his hands on one of her breasts. She shifted a bit on his lap until she knew that she was sitting right on his dick before she started grinding against him a little bit harder than a few seconds ago.

"You’re naughty, do you know that?" Bellamy mumbled, his voice now deeper than before and it made her shiver, going straight to her core.

Clarke just grinned again and shrugged her shoulders. "Usually, I’m not." 

"Oh?" Bellamy replied, sitting up at the same time. He took his hands away from her tits and wrapped one of his arms around the small of her back instead. "Does that mean you are for me?" 

"Perhaps…" was all she said while looking into his eyes before she crashed her lips on his, pulling him into a lazy kiss. He kissed her back in the same way as he snuggled his other arm around her back, too, while she wrapped her arms around his neck.

But that didn’t mean she stopped moving on his lap.

Clarke kept rubbing her cunt against his growing arousal in his sweats, pressing herself more onto it to feel him better than she already did. And with every groan Bellamy let out against her lips, she got faster and the kiss got messier, more intense than it was before. Tongues flickering against each other and now Clarke couldn’t keep herself from moaning into Bellamy’s mouth, either.

He bucked his hips up again which made her pull on his hair and caused him to let out another groan. He sucked on her lower lip and pulled away almost immediately before colliding his lips against her neck, using the way they kissed a second ago as inspiration.

"Oh God…" she breathed out, turning her head a little bit so he would have more access to her skin. "You don’t take it slow, huh?" 

Bellamy growled against her skin and she could feel how her panties got wetter with each second he kept making out with her neck while she was rubbing herself against him. For sure she would leave a wet spot on his sweatpants, but who was she to care about that?

Instead of doing so, she wanted to push him back and grind properly against him but before she could, he had already wrapped his arm underneath her thighs and got up while she tightened her grip around his neck.

At first, Clarke wanted to ask him where he thought he was going, but then he turned to the side and bend down a bit, taking each one of the candles off the little table and walked them over to the bigger one.

"Do I need to ask?" she questioned instead while he made his second turn to the eating table.

He didn’t answer her, though, just placed the second candle on the table before he walked over to the couch area again and took her shirt from the floor. He then walked to a corner on the terrace where she knew a camera was hidden and threw the shirt over it. Clarke snorted while he made his way back to the couches and kicked the water bottle off the coffee table, causing it to fall onto the floor. He laid her down on it and pulled her shorts down, throwing them over his shoulder when they were off.

Clarke held herself up on her elbows and looked at him. Bellamy’s gaze was fixed on her cunt while he licked his lips and ran his hand through his messy curls. The blonde asked herself how messier they could become by the end of whatever they were doing here. But, she wasn’t able to think about it any further when Bellamy grabbed each one of her legs and pulled her closer to the edge of the table.

"Geez, Bellamy," she muttered, biting her lip after she spoke up. He just smirked at her and kissed her knee one time before he sat on his knees correctly. "Can’t be not rough for once, huh?"

Bellamy smirked and placed her left leg on his shoulder, pulling her further to him again.

"You like it rough, princess." 

"Oh, fuck off and get your mouth on me!" she commanded whereupon he just scoffed.

But even if it was true, he still pushed her panties to the side slowly and by the way his brown eyes darkened even more, Clarke felt the urge to press her thighs together. She knew that her clenching down on nothing didn’t go unnoticed by Bellamy, especially not when he lifted his head again and looked her in the eyes.

"You want my mouth?" Clarke nodded as she pushed his head further to her pussy with her leg on his shoulder. "No fingers? Just my lips on your clit?"

Clarke shook her head and brought his head closer again. "No, both. Definitely both." 

"Both. Gotcha."

That said, Bellamy settled his head between her legs and all she could see was a mop of black curls and the feeling of his thumb pressed on her clit, even though it was just for a brief moment. He licked a fat swipe of her arousal from her cunt to her clit and focused on the latter then, licking it slowly. And that was already enough for Clarke to black out.

She stopped taking care about her surroundings and closed her eyes, concentrating on the feeling of Bellamy’s tongue doing wonders and biting her lip at the same time. She put her weight onto one of her forearms while she used her free hand to squeeze and knead her left tit. In the meantime, Bellamy slid one of his fingers between her folds, moving it up and down to capture her wetness with it. Yet, he gave her clit the most attention with now faster lashes than before, causing Clarke to let out some quiet moans.

The blonde opened her eyes again and was greeted by Bellamy looking up at her already. The sight of him working on her clit with his tongue and holding eye contact with her while doing so made her embarrassingly wet and she knew that he was aware of that himself when she felt him grinning against her. Still, he pulled back and stood up again, leaving her confused with legs spread apart on the coffee table.

"What-" She didn’t get to finish her sentence since Bellamy, instead, helped her get up from it and took the two steps to the couch again before he let go of her hand. Clarke didn’t want to question what he was doing, so she just let him.

Bellamy placed one of the pillows at the end of the couch, against the armrest and laid down with his head on the cushion. Clarke frowned but he just grinned at her and motioned to get closer. She still didn’t understand what he wanted from her but walked further anyway until she was standing right next to the couch.

"Come on," he said, fondling his arm around her and placing his hand on her ass. He pushed her closer but since there was no ‘closer’ anymore, she held onto the arms of the couch and straddled him. Bellamy shook his head. "No, sit on my face."

Clarke’s eyes widened a little bit, but just for a second. She hadn’t expected him to go there but it was something new and she was willing to try it out. So instead of sitting in his lap, she straddled his chest. She didn’t want to put her whole weight on his face yet and she had no idea if she should hold herself up since this is the first time ever she was trying out this position. However, it didn’t seem to be Bellamy’s.

He slid further down the couch, taking the pillow with him so that he was away from the armrest of the couch. Seconds after that, his hands landed on her hips, only to pull her up so that she was kneeling right over his face. Clarke tried to lean forward to be able to place her hands on the end of the couch, but Bellamy took one of her hands instead and placed it on the armrest.

"You can pull on my hair if you need leverage for your other, yeah?"

Although, Clarke was a little bit unsure of this whole position, she couldn’t hide her grin after Bellamy said that.

"Yeah sure. That’s what you’re saying because you like it when I pull on it."

Bellamy raised one of his brows, whereupon Clarke lifted hers. He just rolled his eyes and she wanted to laugh because for once she actually made him speechless. But her laughter died in the back of her throat as soon as he tugged her lower, making her sit down on his face. And if that wasn’t enough already, he immediately closed his lips around her clit, sucking on it while the tip of his tongue slipped under the hood of it.

"Oh fuck," Clarke whined as she leaned forward, changing her own position so she was now hovering above him with her whole body, hands on the couchrest a bit further away from his head. "Shit."

Bellamy growled against her while sliding his finger between her labia again. Clarke gasped when he did so and let her head fall between her shoulders. She was now not only able to feel him working her up, but also see how he was doing it. And if she wasn’t wet before, she was definitely dripping now. Bellamy was so good at oral sex that she could come only from him pleasing her like this multiple times in a row and she wasn’t even ashamed of it. Maybe a bit. But how she always felt afterwards made it absolutely worth it.

The man underneath her started pushing his finger inside her slowly, yet he was already crooking it while doing so. Clarke groaned and sat up straight again, placing her hand back on the arm of the couch. She started rocking herself down on his finger, making sure that it got deeper in her cunt than it was already, but then Bellamy pulled his digit out again and Clarke wanted to protest, to tell him to get it back inside her but there was no time for her to say it aloud cause the moment she parted her lips to say something, he inserted two of his larger fingers.

"God, yes," she breathed out, biting on her lip right after that. She could feel Bellamy smile wolfishly against her clit and it just turned her on even more.

The second he begun moving his fingers slowly, she grinded down on them again, getting him to move them faster and a little bit rougher, too. It didn’t surprise her that he understood immediately, but that didn’t mean that she had been prepared for it.

Out of nowhere, he pushed a third one into her pussy and Clarke had to grip the couch harder than before. She tasted something metallic when wetting her lower lip with her tongue and she knew that her bleeding was the result of biting and chewing on it way too much. She needed to do something, distract herself from Bellamy and his fingers inside her.

Clarke turned her torso around just as he sucked harder on her clit. "Fuck! Bellamy, wait… wait."

He stopped abruptly, pulling out of her and placed his hands on her hips instead. He helped her get off his face a bit and she looked down, seeing the little wrinkle between his brows. She just grinned again before stood up and motioned him to sit up himself. He did as she told him but he was still confused. The blonde just shook her head and pointed to his sweats.

"Take them off, including briefs." She demanded.

Bellamy lifted a brow but didn’t say anything either. He just started taking them off while Clarke took the blanket off the floor and hung it over the arm of the couch.

As soon as Bellamy took off his clothes and put them away, he laid down on his spine and placed a foot on the couch itself. Clarke swept her eyes over his body for a few seconds but fixed her gaze on his shaft a little longer. He was already rock hard, lying flat on his stomach. Only by the sight of it, Clarke clenched down around nothing.

The blonde straddled Bellamy’s face again, this time turned around. His hands landed on her hips again and although she wanted to lower herself on his mouth, he kept her away from doing so.

"You don’t have to do this, you know that, right?" he told her while massaging her skin.

"I wanted to do this again since forever so yes, I have to do this."

"Fuck, alright. Suck me then." She didn’t need to hear him say it again so she just replaced her hair to the side before bending down and taking his cock in her small hand.

Meanwhile, Bellamy lowered her down on his face again and moved two of his fingers up and down her folds, pushing them inside her wet pussy just seconds later.

"Shit." Clarke moaned while she begun jacking him slowly. She wet her lips before she turned her head to the side and licked her way up from the base to the tip of his cock. After that, she circled her tongue playfully around his head only to wrap her lips around it some seconds later.

Bellamy bucked his hip up one time, causing her to take more than just the tip in her mouth, but she didn’t mind. She just tucked her hair behind her ear since it was kind of getting in her way, then used her hand to pump the rest of his cock. Even if she had him in her mouth, it didn’t stop her from moaning, especially not when Bellamy increased the pace of his fingers and pushed them further inside her cunt. She started grinding down on them as fast as she could. Yet because of this, she wasn’t able to focus on sucking Bellamy, so she pulled her head back and laid it on her arm instead, still stroking him just as quick as his fingers moved in her pussy.

"God, fuck," she whimpered. "Right there, Bellamy, right there!"

He groaned in response and it just turned her on even more. She wanted to hear more of the low guttural sounds he made but therefore, she had to get back to giving him head. So that’s what she did.

Clarke lifted her head and let go of his dick for a few seconds to be able to wet her hand a bit. She then wrapped it around his base again and got back to jerking him off while closing her mouth around the head. She circled it with her tongue again, moaning at the same time for various reasons: because of Bellamy’s fingers in her core and because he used his tongue for fast lashes against her clit now, too. And of course she wanted him to feel her moaning around him and apparently it worked because he bucked his hips up again, making her take another inch in her mouth while he groaned around her clit.

It was time for Clarke to fucking come already. She had no idea what time it was but this shouldn’t be the end. Oral sex was great and all, but she still wanted to ride him or to get taken from behind. She didn’t mind both although she kind of wanted to be on top again. _Whatever_.

Instead of going further with her thoughts, the blonde bobbed her head up and down faster, taking another inch and another until she took her hand from his dick and used her mouth as replacement. She didn’t stop there, just continued going all the way down until the head of his shaft was hitting the back of her throat. The longer she stayed like this, the harder it got for her keep the tears in her eyes. And even though Bellamy chose to drop his, until now, raised leg onto the couch and groaned a little longer than usual, she pulled her head back and placed it on her arm again.

"Jesus, Griffin," Bellamy coaxed against her clit whereas she herself let out a moan. "You like having it all inside you, don’t you?" She just hummed in response and wrapped her hand around his length again, stroking him lazily.

Bellamy pulled his fingers out of her again and Clarke wanted to protest for a second time today. The warmth of them was gone and she missed the feeling of them inside her. But then Bellamy slapped her ass two times, as she sat up correctly.

"Come on." 

Clarke understood what he meant with this, so she just got off him as best as she could. He sat up himself and turned around. They were now across from each other and although she had seen him naked often enough, she was still stunned by how handsome he was. There was not one thing that she didn’t find attractive about him and it kind of frustrated her. She didn’t know why, but at the end of the day, she wouldn’t let that ruin her mood.

"Enough energy for you to ride me?" he asked with his usual smug smirk on the lips. "Since you love being on top so much."

The blonde raised her eyebrow but stepped closer to the couch until she was standing right in front of it. She reached down to her own sex to rub herself a bit, getting herself ready for Bellamy’s dick.

"I’m always down for riding you." she answered confidently.

"Me, huh?"

Clarke rolled her eyes and straddled him. She placed her left hand on his shoulder while she held onto his dick with her right hand. Meanwhile, Bellamy put his hands on her hips to steady her. "I’m not fucking anybody else, Blake."

"I wouldn’t fuck without a condom with you if you were."

Clarke’s eyes grew wide when he mentioned the condom and stopped him from making her slide down on his cock with her right hand. He sent her a quizzed look and she knew that she had to explain to him why she didn’t want them to have sex without a condom. He was definitely aware of the fact that she stopped him because of this, but she couldn’t tell him about her pregnancy scare. She shook her head and cleared her throat.

"Fertile days," she lied and he just nodded slowly, probably thinking of how to handle this situation. But there was only one. "Think you can pull out?" she asked softly and he raised his head a bit, looking into her eyes.

"I mean, yeah but not in this position."

Clarke sighed but nodded herself now. "Then we start this way and when you’re close, we’re switching up, alright? Just lay me on the coffee table then."

"Whatever the hell you want."

The blonde bit her lip before she took her hand off Bellamy’s and let him guide her down onto his dick. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked between their bodies, whimpering when she saw how his cock disappeared inside her, inch by inch. Bellamy released a low growl when all of his dick was in her core, filling her up completely.

Clarke lifted her head again and met Bellamy’s gaze immediately. She didn’t move and neither did he. They just kept looking each other in the eyes and while doing so, he licked his lips in a slow manner, turning her on even more. Due to this, she took his face in her hands and collided her lips with his just when she started moving up and down quickly.

The movements and kiss they shared represented how hungry they were for each other at that point: hurried and in a rushed fashion, sloppy, messy, passionate. A French kiss. Meanwhile, Clarke switched from jumping up and down to circling her hips quickly and grinding on Bellamy’s dick to moving up and down again. Whenever she did so, Bellamy helped her move up, sometimes until only the tip of his dick was inside her, and back down. They often groaned simultaneously when they weren’t making out or when Bellamy’s lips weren’t exploring the skin on her neck.

It was hot. They were sweaty and close.

"Fuck, ugh," Clarke whined while grinding faster again. "Shit, Bellamy. You feel so good."

Bellamy growled against her neck in response but pulled back right after that and slid further down on the couch, causing his hips to buck up again and his tip to rub against that spot inside her.

"Shit! Oh my- _Fuck!_ " He rammed his dick inside her once again, making her scream out loud. She threw her head back into her neck as she continued riding him but slid her hand down to her clit, so she could rub herself at the same pace.

"Jesus, yes," Bellamy groaned. "Play with yourself, Clarke."

She whimpered in response and got faster again as she grabbed for his hand and placed it on her clit. She put her hand on top of his and guided his hand, making him rub his fingers against her the way he usually did. Of course he wouldn’t disappoint her and did exactly that, so she could take her hand away from his and start squeezing and kneading her breasts instead.

"Please, oh my- fuck!" Clarke moaned when he slid further down again. "Bellamy, just- fuck me!"

"Alright," he breathed out while placing her hands on the armrest above his head instead of his broad shoulders. "Be quiet, huh? Can you do that for me?"

Clarke shook her head. "No- fuck, of course not."

"Good."

And that was it.

Because then Bellamy jackhammered his hips into her, making her scream loudly. She tightened the grip on the couch and closed her eyes, crying out with each one of his hard and deep thrusts, always hitting her g-spot and keeping her in place with his hands on her hips. To be honest, she would be surprised if none of the people in the mansions next to them would send in a complaint to Aryana and the whole team of the show. With the way she was screaming, they were probably waking them all up. But again, who was she to care?

The sound of their bodies slapping against each other just made it worse. She knew that she was almost there and even though she wasn’t ready to come yet, she wanted to have the feeling of a climax again. She was sure that this one would be a hard one and she would probably end up having some issues with walking. Still, it was worth it.

With every thrust Bellamy made, she clenched harder around him but she could feel that they started getting uncontrollable and she knew what that meant; he was close himself and soon she had to get off him. She had to let him pull out so he wouldn’t come inside her and she could avoid another pregnancy scare. But… _fuck it_. She was taking birth control again anyway, she wouldn’t get pregnant. She just wanted him to come inside her.

So when he tried to lift her off him, she just shook her head and dropped down on his dick again.

"Come inside me." She breathed out.

"You sure? I thought-"

Clarke whimpered as she clenched harder around him again and shook her head. "I lied. Come inside me. _Please_!"

Apparently, Bellamy didn’t need to be told twice since he now even increased his pace again, making Clarke actually scream more than crying out. But it wasn’t because it hurt, definitely not. It just felt way too good to end soon but she couldn’t stop herself from coming and when she did, no sound left her lungs anymore. She just pressed her eyes closed and saw stars while keeping her hands on the arm rest for leverage. Bellamy followed her two thrusts later and filled her up.

Clarke placed her head between her hands, trying to catch her breath again after what just happened. Blood was still running through her ears but that didn’t change anything. She never felt more dead and alive at the same time.

They stayed like this for some minutes until both of them came back from their highs. The blonde lifted herself up and got off him, only to let herself fall onto the couch, her head hitting the couch rest and her legs in Bellamy’s lap. She raked her fingers through her hair before she placed it on her forehead. There wasn’t even much to say and she didn’t.

All she did was start to laugh and although she thought for a slight minute that it would confuse Bellamy, he begun laughing himself. Why exactly, she couldn’t figure out herself. She just couldn’t believe that this actually happened. First she had been sad about not being able to find her perfect match, and from one second to another, she fucked Bellamy. Oh how the tables could turn.

"I don’t want to ruin the mood, princess, but I think we should go to sleep." Bellamy muttered, voice lower and raspier than before.

Clarke just nodded and sat up, slowly. "I need to go to the toilet first."

"Sure. Get that cum out of you." The blonde hit his arm but it didn’t end up hard enough for him to be bothered by it.

They both stood up and dressed again as best as they could before they cleaned the couch area up first. It was their usual friends’ spot after all and they didn’t want anything to be there. Clarke folded the blanket again while Bellamy walked over to the bigger table and blew out the candles. The blonde turned around when he took her shirt from the camera and waited for him to bring it to her. She put it on quickly before she put everything back in place then took her water bottle and turned back around to face Bellamy.

"You alright?" She just nodded and took his hand when walking into the house again. He closed the door behind them before they walked to the bathroom of the first floor as silently as they could and without turning on any lights.

Clarke slipped into the bathroom real quick and cleaned herself up as best as she could, making sure that everything was gone and that she didn’t look suspicious if one of their roommates should be awake. Once she was done, she walked out of the room again and closed the door slowly behind her.

"Sleepy enough to go to bed?" Clarke nodded again but took the last few steps closer. She knew she had to hug him. Bellamy sighed but hugged her back and caressed her spine up and down slowly. "Want me to carry you?"

"Mhm."

Bellamy laughed lightly. "Alright," was everything he said before he picked her up and wrapped his arm around the small of her back. Clarke just fondled hers around his neck and placed her head on his shoulder. She didn’t know that she had been this tired before. That was probably a consequence of her trying to figure out who her match was in the middle of the night. But even now, she still hadn’t figured it out.

And she definitely couldn’t think about it again before falling asleep because that’s what she did the minute she closed her eyes and drifted off on Bellamy’s shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll post sneak peeks of the next chapters on my twitter, my @ is grjffinsblake; reminder that it is a fan account and not a writer account so you'll see stan stuff on there, too. but most importantly SNEAK PEEKS! 
> 
> other than that and as usual comments are appreciated! love you guys and see you on wednesday (you are not prepared) xo


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all you need to know for this one: don't panic what happens here has a very great outcome, what you and me have been waiting for since chapter 1.
> 
> hurt, pain and suffering is coming your way but this chapter just represents this: 
> 
> the calm before the storm. enjoy.

2 pm.

"Guys…" Raven and Emori turned their heads towards Clarke who was currently sticking hers through the open door of her friends’ closet. "Are you alone?"

They shared a look for a brief second before Raven nodded at her and waved her in.

Clarke didn’t need to be told twice, so she entered the closet and closed the door behind her. She walked over to them and jumped onto the dresser Emori was sitting on. Raven was standing in front of them, only in jeans and a bra, currently trying out some clothes she could wear for tomorrow’s beach party. But now, she just folded her arms in front of her breasts and tilted her chin at the blonde.

"What’s up, Clarkey? Good news or bad?"

Clarke snorted as she rolled her eyes at the same time. She leaned back so her spine hit the wall and placed her hands under her thighs.

"Why do you think that’s why I came here? Could’ve wanted to just chat with you."

Emori next to her let out a snicker. "Nope, I mean yes, but not now. So, spit it out."

The blonde rolled her eyes again before she scooted back to the end of the dresser, locking her hands together and placing them on her lap.

"Fine. To be honest, I think Emori is going to slap my head and you will shake yours in disbelief."

Raven nodded slowly while pushing her lips a bit. "Possible. Come on, Clarke. What happened now? There’s always something going on with you."

"Ha, ha, ha. I’m dying of laughter." She joked.

Emori snorted while Raven’s look turned serious. Clarke sighed but smiled after that and mouthed something at her. The brunette just frowned and let her arms fall next to her side. She cocked her head and Clarke knew that she was trying to understand. She just smirked and quirked up one of her brows before she cleared her throat.

"I fucked Bellamy tonight."

Raven nodded while Emori frowned lightly, jumping off the dresser seconds later to step next to their friend. They just looked at her as if they heard nothing new and it _wasn’t_ … but only for Emori. So it sort of confused Clarke that Raven didn’t say anything but if Emori knew, then she probably told the brunette about it, too. Gossip Girls.

"No comment?" she asked, trying to act as if she wasn’t aware of the both of them knowing that she already had done it before.

Emori shook her head then leaned against the dresser with her arm on top.

"With condom or without?"

Clarke chewed on her lip for a while. She knew her friend would judge her for not using one again and tell her that she actively told her to learn her lesson but of course, she didn’t. But she would still combine telling Emori and Raven about it with some good news on the side… Well, for her, good news.

"Okay, look-"

"Oh my God, you really didn’t listen to me," Emori said, cutting her off. "Clarke… you already had a pregnancy scare. Why did you fuck without a condom again?"

Raven shook her head. "Sweetie…"

Clarke groaned and threw her head back into her neck, asking herself why she was friends with them. Sure, they wanted to make sure that nothing like that would happen again, but they could’ve let her finish her sentence. Instead, Emori stopped her from doing so and judged her for having sex with no protection. Okay… she shouldn’t have done it and didn’t want to in the first place, but in the end, she just went with it. She wouldn’t from now on.

"Can you first hear me out?" Raven looked at her as if there wasn’t anything to say. She didn’t learn her lesson, she was going to cry again when she would think that she’s pregnant again, and more. Meanwhile, Emori just sighed and motioned her to get going.

"Alright, so… we were outside ‘cause I was trying to figure out who my perfect match is." Raven rolled her eyes that hard that Clarke thought that they would fall out of her head. "And at one point, we went through all the people who could possibly be my match but turned out there’s either the group of ‘friends’ or the group of ‘already thought of someone that could be theirs’."

"Want to get to the point, Clarke? Did you finally realize that you’re in love with Bellamy and he’s in love with you, too and that you guys are a match? And fucked because of that?" Emori asked while crossing her arms in front of her and raising a brow.

Clarke frowned and shook her head slightly. "No… that’s, that’s not what I wanted to say."

Raven threw her hands in the air and paced up and down the closet one time before stepping in front of her again.

"I’ll stop having hope in you, seriously. It’s not worth it." She said. "Anyway, keep going."

Still irritated by what Emori said, she continued telling them about what happened. How she told Bellamy that he didn’t fit in either of the groups because of them having sex (she mentioned that on purpose, so they couldn’t ask her why she said that to him) and that it was the reason why they slept with each other again. That she told him to pull out before they actually got to the sex part but that he didn’t because she told him not to. How she lied in the first place, saying that she was in the midst of fertile days and that she admitted that she lied seconds before they came.

"And he didn’t question it?" Emori shook her head in disbelief. "Now I know that you’re both idiots in many ways."

Raven sighed and put her hair into a ponytail. "That’s the good news? That you fucked with Bellamy?"

Clarke grinned. "No," she replied, jumping off the dress at the same time. "For some reason I got my period this morning… not so sure how since I’m back on birth control but… I’m one hundred percent not pregnant."

Emori just looked at her with no expression on her face while Raven started laughing a little, placing her arm on her shoulder. Clarke didn’t know what that meant and it confused her that she didn’t get a real reaction from her friends. She didn’t need to wait that long until she found out.

"I mean… I’m glad that you’re not, but if you keep having sex without protection, I’m sure it’ll happen soon." Emori said, smirking lightly at the same time.

Clarke nodded more to herself than to her friends. "Never again. From now on, condom for real."

"I hope you’re serious…" Raven added, hitting the back of her head, causing her to let out a sound of pain. "It’s what you deserve, Griffin. Now go to your boyfriend."

Clarke groaned and freed herself out of Raven’s grip. "He is _not_ my boyfriend!"

"Only because you guys didn’t talk about that yet." Emori uttered.

"How about let’s talk about you, hm?" Clarke suggested, jumping back on the dresser. "What’s up with your guys? Roan? Murphy? You always talk about me being Bellamy’s match, but what about you? Are they yours?"

Raven turned around and walked to her dresser while holding up her middle finger.

"Shut up, Clarke."

The blonde just started laughing along with Emori. She would get her answer. Sooner or later.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 5, Day 29 – Friday. Los Angeles. 11 pm.

Somehow, Bellamy ended up sitting at the bar of the beach with Miller and Murphy, drinking a beer. Music was being played while the rest of the participants of the show were playing games like beach volleyball behind them or just chatted with each other. It was a nice setting with a lot of colourful lights and great people around him, so he kind of forgot about how fresh it currently was. Perhaps that was the reason why he decided to sit down at the bar and drink alcohol.  

"Alright," Miller said while putting his beer back on the counter. "Next question. Los Angeles Lakers or Chicago Bulls?"

"Bulls."

"Lakers," Bellamy disagreed. He shook his head at Murphy who just rolled his eyes at him. "Lakers. Absolutely."

Miller grinned and patted his shoulder.

"You’re a fake friend, Nathan." Murphy added before taking a sip of his beer himself.

Bellamy just laughed and played with the cap of his bottle.

Although he disagreed a lot with what Murphy said, he was still glad to have him as a friend. Sometimes he didn’t understand it himself, but they still got along. He always had Murphy’s back and he knew that it was the same way the other way around. That counted for Miller, too. They were a great trio, even with different opinions and views but with each one’s personality, it just made sense and wasn’t bad at all.

He turned around to face his friends and put his feet on the foot holder of his stool. Miller, who was sitting in between Murphy and him, leaned back so their friend could turn towards them, too which he did. Murphy raised one of his brows for a second then tilted his chin at Bellamy. The older one just grinned and did the same just as he lifted his beer that was in his left hand.

"How are things going with Emori?" he asked before bringing his bottle to his lips.

Miller crossed his arms in front of his chest and turned his head to Murphy who was still grinning but now sweeping his eyes between both of his friends. He shrugged his shoulders and placed his own beer back on the counter.

"Not much of a change than always, though. No fighting. Everything’s good."

"Well…" Miller started, nodding slightly to himself. "I’m glad that one of us has luck with their match. Saying one on purpose."

Bellamy groaned and took another sip of his beer, putting it down afterwards.

"So, what will you do now? Since Jackson isn’t your match?"

Miller sighed and ran a hand down his face before he put it back in front of his chest. He shrugged his shoulders while moving his legs a bit, then cleared his throat.

"I don’t know, seriously. Sure, I had conversations with more guys and all, but I didn’t think about them in _that_ way. Like with you, Bellamy, or with Roan, Monty… I just focused on Jackson and that was it."

"Who can blame you?" Murphy muttered. "We all thought that you were a match, especially seeing the chemistry between you and we had no clue about your sexualities. We played this game wrong the moment we entered that mansion."

Bellamy nodded and folded his arms in front of his chest, mimicking Miller’s body language.

"He’s not wrong, though, and not only that. You couldn’t choose anybody else than him anyway, could you? I guess they wanted us to go that path with you and Jackson getting in the Booth first, so we could realize that we actually have to talk about our orientations. We didn’t do that before we knew that you guys weren’t a match."

"Yeah," Murphy added. "See, it makes sense. I think the original plan was to get you guys into the Truth Booth first, but we fucked up and fucked up and fucked up… and now we’re in the fifth week and Aryana was mad at us at the MC. Shows that they probably expected us to to talk about our sexualities way before."

Miller sighed and reached his beer again, taking a big gulp.

Bellamy hated seeing him this upset. Of course he would never admit that himself, but more than often Miller drifted off and tried to figure things out. He noticed that Jackson was hurt by all of this much more than Miller and they tried to end things slowly. They knew they had to and even though Bellamy could imagine how hard it was, it had to be done. Only with them separating could they all try and make things better to find love and win the money at the end of the tenth week. To be honest, he thought that Miller had already found love.

"Okay… that actually makes sense, yeah. But still, who is my match then? ‘Cause if I don’t find mine, we won’t win this game either."

"Woah, woah, Miller." Murphy said, putting his beer down again. "Don’t say that. We still have time to figure it all out, we just need a strategy. And we have Monty _and_ Raven. So, don’t stress yourself. Let’s just enjoy this night and focus on the matches after we survived our hangovers." 

Miller nodded slowly then lifted his beer bottle for a few seconds before he took a sip of it. Bellamy shared a look with Murphy who just shrugged his shoulders. He sighed and mimicked Miller’s move whereupon Murphy did the same.

Just as he placed his beer back on the counter, someone tapped his shoulder. He frowned at first then turned his head towards that person but smiled immediately when he saw her.

"O!" Bellamy got up from his stool so he could hug his little sister. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Octavia scoffed and pulled back, smiling at him. "Well… remember how Aryana said we’re allowed to visit you guys once a week? We were told about this beach party so Lincoln and I decided to come."

She quickly greeted Miller and Murphy who were glad to see her, too. She then turned back to her brother who still couldn’t believe that he saw her that early again. That only made him more curious about how things were going with Lincoln.

"Want to go talk somewhere? Just the two of us, to catch up?" Bellamy asked his little sister.

Octavia nodded in response.

With that, the siblings made their way over to a hammock close to the ocean. They sat down on it across from each other, Octavia on one end and Bellamy on the opposite side. The younger one raked her fingers through her hair and smiled at her brother.

"So, how are things going in the house?" she asked while placing her hands back into her lap.

Bellamy snorted and shrugged his shoulders. "Everything is the same old. How about we talk about you and Lincoln? That’s more interesting than what’s happening in the mansion."

"As if you care," Bellamy tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Octavia did the same as they kept staring at each other like that before they started laughing. "It’s great actually. We wake up in the mornings and have breakfast together. Sometimes we go lay back down or do some workouts. It really depends on the day. Sun-bathing or playing volleyball, badminton…"

Bellamy smiled while his sister told her all of those things. It was no secret that he still was a bit unsure of her relationship with Lincoln, both because of the age gap and because he didn’t have a lot of conversations with him alone. But he was a nice guy, he wouldn’t lie there, and he could see how happy his sister had been over the past few weeks and still was. He wouldn’t get in between their relationship. Sure, if he would get to know that he was hurting her, he definitely would take action, but he believed that Lincoln was a good guy. No reason to get in between.

"I don’t know what else you want to hear, big brother. There are things I know you don’t want to know about." Octavia said grinning.

The older one made a disgusted face and shook his head. "No, thank you. But as long as you use protection…"

"Says the one who almost got-" she cleared her throat. "Anyway… so what? How are things between you and Clarke?"

Bellamy frowned while Octavia cut herself off but didn’t ask her about it. He knew that she wouldn’t tell him what she wanted to say after she got into a new topic (which wasn’t that new to him). He didn’t want to ask her anyway.

"O, how often do I have to tell you that we are just friends and have fun? Is that too hard to understand?"

Octavia just looked at him as if she was bored by what he just told her. Sure, her and his friends were talking about him and Clarke being a match, a couple and whatnot, but in the end, they were all wrong. They both had no feelings for each other and didn’t believe that they were a match. Having sex next to being good friends wouldn’t change that.

His little sister rolled her eyes. "You are a dumbass, Bellamy. You want to tell me that Clarke doesn’t have feelings for you and you don’t have feelings for her?" she said, raising her brow at the same time.

"Yes? Only because you all want us to be a thing doesn’t mean that we are." He uttered.

Octavia nodded slowly. "Okay, so… may I ask why she’s sleeping in your bed then? I mean, she could’ve slept in the bed with Maya in your room so you would have a bed alone?"

His sister wasn’t wrong, though. Luna shared a bed with Sasha while Zeke and Murphy slept in one. Maya had no one to share a bed with at first (she was now sharing one with Wells) but Bellamy and Clarke still slept in a bed even if she could’ve stayed with Maya before. But of course, he wouldn’t admit that.

"Remember how rude you guys were back in the days? She wasn’t feeling well, so I let her sleep in my bed. I was just being nice." He said, defending his actions.

Octavia shook her head. "Yeah, I remember. And? Only because you were taking care of her doesn’t make it better. Murphy, Zeke, they all did. Still, she slept in your bed instead of sleeping in one with Maya. You didn’t have to share one, but you did."

Bellamy looked at his sister but he couldn’t say anything either. He knew that she was right and very aware of how his arguments were weak. It didn’t change the fact that everything was still as usual and nothing had changed.

"Whatever, O. I’m telling you right now that there’s nothing going on between us other than what I’ve already told you. Accept that perhaps?"

"Does she make you happy, yes or no?" Octavia asked, throwing one of her legs above the other.

Bellamy sighed and ran his hand through his curls this time.

"Never said she doesn’t but not-"

"That’s all I need to know." Octavia said while getting out of the hammock.

Bellamy rolled his eyes but didn’t add anything himself. He just got out of it, too and walked back to the bar with his sister in silence. There wasn’t anything to say anymore from his side and he knew that Octavia made her point. Still, he thought that he was right and his friends should finally realize that, too.

As soon as they got back to the bar, Lincoln made an appearance. Bellamy gave him a half hug, not to be rude or anything but hugging wasn’t really his thing anyway. Just as he sat back down on the stool he had been on before, the older one cleared his throat. He turned his head towards him and sent him a quizzed look on the side.

"Can we talk for a bit?" Lincoln asked him and although he just sat down, he nodded, getting up again.

"Sure."

The two walked a bit further away from the bar and everyone else who was currently dancing to the music or just sitting around and enjoying the night. Bellamy leaned against one of the palm trees with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Lincoln nodded slightly to himself and Bellamy started wondering what all of this was about. What did the older one want from him? His blessings to dating his sister? He himself had no say in this game so it wasn’t really his decision to make. They were a match and he wouldn’t try to keep Octavia from being with hers.

"Alright. I don’t want to make a big deal out of this or anything but you can probably imagine why I wanted to talk to you." Lincoln muttered.

Bellamy nodded. "Yeah. I mean what else would we talk about?" he said jokingly.

Lincoln let out a light laugh.

"That’s fair…" he cleared his throat and got serious again. "Look, Octavia told me a bit of… your past, not detailed or anything, just what went on after your mother died. The basics so to say. And I can see why you came here in the first place, to be there for her and to not let her go through this alone. So I can imagine how important she is to you. I don’t want to get in between your relationship, never ever think that. And I hope we can work this out in a nice way."

Bellamy kept listening to what Lincoln had to say in silence, gathering all the information in. He wasn’t surprised that his sister gave him a little bit of background to their past and to be honest he didn’t think it was bad in any way. It only showed him that Octavia really cared about Lincoln and her relationship to him and was probably in love with him…

"Um, sure…" he paused for a second then sighed. "I get you and to be fair, if I was in your position, I would’ve talked to me, too. But seriously, I know that Octavia has… feelings for you and best believe that you feel the same way. We haven’t talked that often, but I can see that you make her happy and that’s everything I want for her. If you can do that, we’re good. If not…," he smirked a bit, "then we’ll talk again."

Lincoln laughed and nodded in response. It was good to see that he was on the same page as him in this case. As long as it would stay like this, he had nothing to say.

"Alright. Thank you, though."

Bellamy shook his head and waved him off. "You don’t need to. It’s all good."

Lincoln was about to say something in response but got cut off by Jasper shouting over the music that was being played.

"It’s limbo time! Get together in pairs of two and we’ll have a competition!"

Bellamy snorted and turned his head from Jasper back to Lincoln. He raised his eyebrow at the older one who just laughed and nodded before he turned on his heels to walk back to the others. Bellamy followed him slowly. He was glad that they were able to figure this whole situation out even though there wasn’t much to talk about in the first place. All he wanted for Octavia was to be in a great relationship and Lincoln seemed to be the right guy. He smiled to himself while walking back to the rest of their group.

There was already a limbo set placed in the middle of the sand and everyone was standing around it. Bellamy went to stand next to Zeke who was shaking his head looking at what was planted in front of him.

"What?" Bellamy asked, grin on his face. "You don’t want to break your back?"

Zeke scoffed. "That too." He turned his head towards Bellamy and smiled. "No, I just think there are better things to play than limbo, but what can I do? The majority was for it, so we play it."

Bellamy laughed. "Makes sense."

After that, they got into pairs. This time, they wanted to do things a little bit differently and get together with someone who they thought might be their match. Of course, that’s when things got a bit complicated because each one of them was irritated by how Miller and Jackson were not a match. Nobody was sure about picking someone and since it was kind of a preparation for the Matching Ceremony that would take place in two days, they took it seriously. Sure, the pairs could change in those days too if someone would fight or if they would get into a conversation with anyone else but still, they wanted to take this as a chance to see how they could possibly pair up on Sunday.

They agreed to just choose randomly, so no ‘boys or girls need to pick someone’.

Since Jasper had been the one to decide which game they would play, he was the first one to choose someone as a partner for it too. It surprised everyone when he picked Maya because no one ever saw them having a conversation, but Maya didn’t seem to mind. It seemed like they were talking more secretly than everyone thought. Wells didn’t make a comment, he just smiled when the girl walked over to Jasper. It irritated Bellamy a little bit but that probably meant that they talked with each other and decided that they should get to know other people as well.

Costia paired up with Lexa which wasn’t a surprise at all. Still, it was nice to see that there were ‘couples’ who always ended up together no matter what was going on. That also fit to Murphy and Emori who were together since the beginning and to be honest, Bellamy had no idea why they hadn’t tried to win a challenge yet. It was pretty obvious that they were a perfect match, but none of them tried their best at the getaway challenges which made it impossible for the rest of the group to vote them into the Truth Booth.

Unsurprisingly, Lincoln and Octavia were a team just as it was supposed to be. Instead of picking Maya like Wells usually would’ve, he chose Harper this time. It bothered her a little bit, probably because she thought that Jasper would have picked her. Still, she made her way over to Wells and started talking with him.

Bellamy frowned as he took a step closer to Zeke. The other guy turned his head towards him and crooked his head to the side. Bellamy just shook his head slightly before he tilted his head to the rest of the people that hadn’t been picked yet.

"Who do you want to pair up with?" he asked his friend.

Zeke sighed and focused on the others around them. "I’m not sure… I didn’t really talk to any girl in a way of having deep conversations and all that. But I know that Raven is kinda working in the same branch as me and she seems pretty cool, so I’ll probably pick her and try to get closer to her."

"Oh, definitely do that. Apparently Roan only picks her because he can’t pick me anyway so…" he replied, shrugging his shoulder at the same time.

The other guy laughed and patted his shoulder while Miller picked Monty as his partner for the game.

"True. I’ll do it now."

With that, Zeke walked over to Raven and Bellamy smiled when he could see how the brunette reacted at first, but then her lips curled upwards and he knew that she was totally fine with Zeke picking her and it was confirmed when Zeke was able to wrap his arm around her waist and pulled her closer towards him. Kind of adorable.

"Hola, me llamo Clarke."

Bellamy teared his gaze away from his two friends and faced Clarke who was standing right in front of him. She had a big smile on her face as if she was proud of speaking Spanish to him. He laughed and shook his head.

"Is there a reason why you’re speaking Spanish to me?" he asked, lifting a brow at the same time.

Clarke groaned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yes. It’s part of you, remember? And it’s a nice language. You should teach me."

"Teach you?" Bellamy repeated as a question while snuggling his around her waist, pulling her closer. Clarke nodded, whereupon he laughed at little. "And what do you want to learn? Dirty words?"

The blonde took her arms away and hit his shoulder before pushing him away. "I hate you."

"No you don’t." She rolled her eyes and turned her back towards him. He just smiled and hugged her from behind, placing his head on her shoulder. She sighed in response but leaned back against him while placing her hands on top of his. "See, you don’t."

Clarke just ignored him and asked a question instead. "Are we a team?"

"Mhm." Bellamy placed a soft kiss on her shoulder which caused her to laugh a little. He smiled against her skin and he was sure that she was smiling herself.

They stayed like this while the rest of the group paired up.

Of course, Murphy and Emori teamed up together although it seemed like they wanted to be somewhere else and play other games than limbo. Surprisingly, Jackson and Sasha worked together and Roan and Echo which left Luna to pair up with Finn.

After the fiasco at the Matching Ceremony, it was harder for everyone to keep being nice to Finn with the way he behaved, but they all were trying their best to keep the drama away from them and playing this game was the best way to do that…

But sometimes, things didn’t seem to be how they thought.

# # # # # # # # # # 

In the end, the winning pair of the game was Octavia and Lincoln. Not _that_ surprising since the both of them were pretty athletic. Actually, they won tickets for the Los Angeles bus tour but the two of them were already so happy about being in the honeymoon suite that they gave it to the second placed pair: Raven and Zeke.

They hadn’t expected that, neither of them, but they still thanked Octavia and Lincoln for doing this for them. The only time Raven had been on a date was with Finn and that had been back in the first week. So, of course, she was happy about the pair giving them those tickets instead of enjoying a bus tour themselves.

Zeke seemed to be fine with that too and he definitely loved the idea of going on a date with Raven.

All in all, the game turned out better and funnier than they thought it’d be in the first place.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 5, Day 30 – Saturday. Los Angeles. 00:30 am.

"I mean… I always thought about it actively you know? Especially when I was single for three years straight and everyone around me became pregnant or started getting married… At the end of the day, I knew that this is what I want for my future myself." Raven admitted before taking a sip of her drink.

Clarke sighed.

Everyone around her seemed to want the classic type of future: getting pregnant first, then marriage if not the other way around. Meanwhile, she couldn’t see herself in that position. Her pregnancy scare just proved to her that she didn’t want to have kids. She didn’t feel mature enough for that and getting married? There was no reason for a marriage if a couple knew that they would stay together forever.

But apparently, she was the only one who thought so.

"I totally get what you mean, Raven." Sasha said, smiling at the same time. "There was always a show that was about women trying on wedding dresses and in the end, they often bought one. Since then, I imagined myself in that situation and search for dresses once in a while. It’s crazy, I know… but seriously, I can’t wait for the day my father will walk me down the aisle and I see my future husband standing there in the front, nervously waiting for me."

Clarke lifted up her cocktail that was standing on the sand in front of her and took a big gulp of it. She slightly started feeling uncomfortable having this conversation when she had another opinion. It wasn’t like she thought Raven and Sasha would side eye her in a bad way, fuck no. It just made her feel bad since she could have a boyfriend or a girlfriend soon, _if_ things would turn out the way this game wanted to. And if she would fall in love with someone and he would want to have kids and getting married… it would be horrible.

Still, just like Clarke expected, Raven turned towards her and smiled.

"Now it’s your turn. Where do you see yourself in some years, Clarkey?"

The blonde sighed and placed her drink back in the sand. She tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged her shoulders.

"Depends. If I fall in love and stay with that person, then of course in a relationship and with Bella, my dog, and hopefully some puppies. Perhaps I want to move again, away from or in New York. But not married, no kids."

Sasha blinked a few times while furrowing her brows lightly. Raven just tilted her head to the side and used the straw in her glass to take a sip from her drink. Since neither of them said anything, Clarke just continued.

"I just can’t see myself pressing a baby out of my vagina. Marriage? Why do I need a paper to show how much I love someone?" she shrugged her shoulders again and fixed her gaze on the ocean. "Personally think it’s unnecessary."

"Well… I see where you’re coming from, Clarke. You don’t need to marry someone to know that you’re in love. But don’t you, I don’t know, want to take a higher step in the relationship you would be in? I think you should take some time alone and really think about it… especially if your partner wants to get married and have kids, you know?" Raven suggested.

Clarke rolled her eyes lightly. She knew that her friend was right. There weren’t many people who thought the same way she did and it could easily destroy a relationship. Of course she didn’t want this to happen in the future, but this whole paper stuff and planning a fucking wedding, giving birth… she just couldn’t see that happening to herself. Probably because she was so used to casual hook-ups in the past years instead of being in a relationship or falling in love. Perhaps, she had no idea.

The blonde turned her head towards her two friends again who were already looking at her, Sasha more worried than Raven. She sighed and looked over her shoulder, sweeping her eyes over the rest of the group. Most of them were having fun, either dancing alone or in pairs to the music that was played or they were sitting on the bar, drinking and chatting a little.

Then there was Murphy and Emori who were making out against a palm tree.

Clarke snorted and faced Raven and Sasha again. She didn’t want to keep talking about future stuff but when she saw Sasha’s gaze not on her anymore but in the direction of where she just had been looking, she couldn’t help herself and had to dig in deeper.

"Do you see yourself marrying Monty?" Her friend spun her head to her immediately while Raven choked on her drink. Clarke laughed a little but raised her eyebrow at Sasha. "Do you?"

Sasha cleared her throat. "Well… I didn’t think that far yet but I wouldn’t get together with someone who I can’t imagine a future with. That’s just… I don’t know, weird?"

"Wait, what the hell did I miss?" Raven asked in confusion. "Since when are you two together!?"

The other girl laughed. "We’re on a Dating Show? That means we’re currently dating… and Monty and I are doing this for a long time now. At some point I think… it just kinda happens?"

Clarke smiled while Raven fell into the arms of her friend. She was happy for Sasha and she knew that she and Monty thought that they were an actual match. Sure, it didn’t really add up with what Monty said about the matches at the first ceremony, but she still liked seeing her friends feeling this good. First Emori with Murphy, then Octavia with Lincoln and now it was Sasha with Monty.

She still had no idea what Raven was currently going through, but now was the perfect time to ask her. She waited a few seconds until the brunette let go of Sasha and pulled herself together again. However, as soon as she knew that Raven got her shit together, she threw the question against her head.

"So how are you currently dating, Rae? You had sex with Roan, he picked you at the MC, but I saw you with Zeke today? How about we talk about it?"

Raven didn’t say anything for a pretty long time and it got Sasha’s attention, too. Her friend raised her eyebrow at the brunette and Clarke started smirking. She could wait the whole night if necessary only to get her to talking. Luckily, she did after a minute.

"There’s not much to say actually. I told Roan that I don’t want to continue fucking because we need to find our match and I told him that he isn’t mine. He said he didn’t think so but would let me do whatever I want. So, yeah I was kinda free?" she laughed a bit. "And then Zeke wanted to pair up with me when we were playing limbo and I’m not gonna lie… he’s hot and adorable at the same time."

And still Raven was judging her because she thought that Bellamy wasn’t her match even though she said the same about Roan. To be fair, she didn’t think that Raven and Roan were a match. Still, her friend didn’t act any different as she was and she had her reasons because Bellamy wasn’t her fucking match.

"No joke, Reyes but this sounds… good! Zeke is a nice guy and as far as I know, you guys work in the same field? You should try to spend more time with him so you can get to know him better." Sasha suggested, whereupon Raven nodded.

"I’ll, don’t worry…" the brunette smiled at first before it turned into a smirk. Clarke knew what that meant. She would start talking to her about Bellamy and she already thought of leaving, but her friend was faster… of course. "What about you and Bellamy, huh?"

Clarke groaned while throwing her head back against her neck. It seemed like they were always waiting for an update when there wasn’t much to say.

She tilted her head to the side so she was able to look at her friends. They were already staring at her, waiting for something to come out of her mouth and even if she was sick of this topic, she brought herself to answer.

"All the same. Great friends, great sex." That summed it up pretty good.

Sasha rolled her eyes and got up. "I’ll talk to you again when you say you’re in love with him."

Clarke stuck out her tongue at her friend who just waved at her while walking away with her empty glass. She wasn’t sure if Sasha was really leaving her alone with Raven or if she just went to get something new to drink. She couldn’t think about it for long anyway since her friend cleared her throat and turned her attention back to her.

"How long do you think this will work out?" Raven asked her.

Clarke frowned, unsure of what exactly her friend meant by ‘this’. She didn’t want to ask her either, though, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Not for long?" Alright, nevermind. "What do you mean?"

"Fuck, Griffin! I’m starting to get impatient, I swear! You can’t tell me that you don’t have feelings for this boy!? I’m aware of him being the one who was there for you when we were behaving fucking childish and I’m pretty sure that he was the person who set up the bathroom in the most romantic way for you. A red rose? Are you kidding me?"

Clarke parted her lips to say something but Raven just held up her hand, stopping her from doing so and continued.

"I’m not trying to force you to fall in love with him. God, no, but please don’t tell me you’re that blind to realize that there’s more going on between the two of you than just sex!?"

The blonde sighed and rubbed her hand over her forehead. She had no idea how she should get out of this situation when Raven was that annoyed by her and couldn’t stop her rant. There was no way to get out of this, especially if the two of them would stay alone without anyone joining soon. Sasha left her here to die.

Clarke now fully turned to her friend, sitting face to face. She could see how tired Raven was of freaking out about her behaviour and she really didn’t want to make it worse but… she probably would.

"Look, I see where you’re coming from, yeah? I get that. We look great together, we act like a couple, yes, Monty told me already. Still, without sounding rude… it’s none of your business. But since you all stick your nose into it, it only gets harder for me to even… I don’t know! Like… I feel like you guys try so hard that the thought of Bellamy being my match gets pushed further back than it already is. Just stop it and let me have fun, please."

"No!? I’m not going to lose a million dollar only because you and Bellamy are stupid as hell and don’t want to see the signs. I think I have to start acting the way you do with him with someone else so you can see that this is more than just sex. Goddammit."

Clarke knew she shouldn’t be laughing, yet she did. Raven clearly drunk enough alcohol for tonight and she would make sure that her friend wouldn’t drink more today. She was aware that Raven was being serious, but she just didn’t give it a lot of thought. It wasn’t her fault that her friends wanted to believe whatever was flying around in their minds. At the end of the day, they would be surprised to find out that Bellamy and her weren’t a match and would apologize hundreds of times to try to make them believe that they were one.

"How about I get you some water yeah? You can’t-"

"What the actual fuck, Finn!? Are you out of your fucking mind!? What kind of a problem do you have, huh!? Do you need any kind of attention!? Is that what is missing in your life or what!? Are you fucking stupid!?" 

"Nate! He’s bleeding! Oh my God! Fuck, what the fuck, where’s Jackson!?"

As soon as the music turned off, a girl started screaming. Clarke turned her head around to look over her shoulder to see what was going on. She didn’t know what she was prepared for, but certainly not for what she was seeing right now with her own eyes that filled with tears, making it harder for her to see.

She immediately blocked everything out of her mind, her surroundings weren’t important to her when she got up and started running towards the bar area of the beach. She pushed a few people out of the way, not caring if those people were from the camera team, participants, or just random people who were living in or visiting Los Angeles. She didn’t give a shit about what was going on around her and just ran faster and faster until she dropped on her knees right next to where Murphy was already sitting.

And even though Clarke could feel his gaze on her, she didn’t say anything, didn’t care about his presences next to her and what her friend would think of her seeing her like this. She just kept crying and sobbing, at the same time moving around a little bit so she could place his bleeding head in her lap. She was wearing a red dress anyway, nobody would notice that there was blood on it.

But she would.

She would remember how she saw him lying on the sand unconscious from afar. She would remember seeing Miller almost punching Finn in the face. She would recall how everyone was in shock around her, everyone but three people;

Murphy, Miller, and Octavia.

The latter one was screaming so loudly that she couldn’t hear herself sobbing anymore and that the blood running through her ears, trying to block out everything around her, wasn’t working anymore. She closed her eyes and shut her mouth with her hand while the other stroked away the hair off his forehead. She wanted to keep her shit together, she really wanted to, but instead, it only got worse and her cries only stronger. Just like Octavia’s anger.

"Do you see what you’ve done, Finn!? Are you proud of yourself now!? Boosted your non existent ego, hah!? Fuck! I want to kick you in your fucking guts you disgusting piece of crap! I swear to God. Oh believe me, I fucking do pray for you to get payback! Your jealousy is not only pissing me off but also wants me to throw up! See, look what you’ve done here, you coward! Are you happy now!? Are you!?"

"Octavia… come on…"

"Lincoln, let me go!? This is my fucking _brother_ lying there! He’s not moving _at all_ and you want me to calm down!? No! Best believe I won’t! He’s _unconscious_. His head is _bleeding_. He could be _dying_ right now!"

As if Clarke’s mind thought that was enough for her to hear, she stopped listening to what Octavia was screaming out, pain and anger clearly evident in her voice. She didn’t even want to think of never seeing him again, never being able to talk to him again and never seeing the smile on his face he started having more than usually in the last week. She wouldn’t be able to handle this, she wasn’t sure why, but the thought of it teared her heart apart.

But then there were the sirens of an ambulance and she knew it would be fine. She hoped it would be because that’s how it was supposed to be. She opened her eyes again and let out a watery laugh before she wiped the tears away that were rolling down her cheeks. The same hand she used to push his curls out of his face started caressing his cheek while trying to hide her pain through fake smiling. But there was one thing that wasn’t fake. One thing that she knew she promised and wouldn’t break.

"I’m not leaving you, do you hear me? I’ll keep you as close to me as possible…" she laughed a little, realizing now why the bracelet. "The sun and the moon, remember? Cause that’s what I remember… and what I understand now. The sun and the moon."

Clarke could hear the ambulance getting closer but she still didn’t leave his side. She wouldn’t now, she wouldn’t later and just like she promised, she would never.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...you might hate me, you might love me thinking about what will finally happen next chapter. 
> 
> i'm just going to say i finally had been able to write IT. who can guess what IT is?
> 
> as usual, comments are always appreciated and i love each single one of you. see you on sunday!


	21. Chapter 21

1:00 am.

The waiting room of the hospital was as quiet as it could be. 

Each one of the participants was seated in one of the chairs in it and thankfully, the camera team decided to leave and stop filming the minute they got there. It was now only the twenty-one participants, with Aryana, by their side. She was just as shocked by the situation as everyone else, host or not. No one expected anything like this to happen.

Including Clarke.

Getting here stopped her from crying, but not from thinking. She tired to figure out how it even came to this. What happened between Finn and Bellamy, why Finn did hurt him? Was it really because of jealousy or was there more to it? Did he want Bellamy to be brought to the hospital? Was it intentional or not?

Clarke had so many questions that were running through her mind, yet it seemed like she wouldn’t get any information as to what caused the injury on Bellamy’s head.

Lifting her gaze up from the floor and turning her head a little, she saw Finn sitting on a chair next to Wells and Echo. He did seem to be sorry by the way he was shaking one of his legs and constantly rubbing his hand over his face. Wells had his hand placed on his shoulder in support. Finn was being comforted by one of the competitors whilst Bellamy was laying in a hospital room all by himself, surrounded by doctors and nurses while she was sitting here.

She should be there for him. Support _him_ , hold his hand and tell him that everything would be fine again.

Yet, she was here, around everyone else in a room that couldn’t be more silent and she was about to freak out because of it. Even Octavia, Miller… they all were quiet instead of shouting and screaming like they had been almost half an hour ago. The anger probably faded, even though she could imagine that it wasn’t that way. They were trying to keep calm instead of going off on Finn and to be honest, that was much better.

She still had no idea what exactly happened and just because they had seen Finn standing close to Bellamy it didn’t prove if he really was the reason for his injury. Nobody saw anything which made it even harder at this point but what were they supposed to do?

Right. They could only wait for a doctor or a nurse to come to update them on how Bellamy was doing.

She was nervous about it, anxious even. What should she expect?

Her dress was still full of Bellamy’s blood. Even if Emori asked her some minutes ago if she wanted to change, she decided against it. She was not sure why but she didn’t want to leave. Aryana even suggested it and that the cars that brought them to the beach party were downstairs and if someone wanted to go back to the mansion, they were allowed to leave and would be driven home.

Still, no one left. They all wanted to stay in the hospital until they would get an update on Bellamy. They were making sure that she and Octavia were doing fine and no one could tell who was in a worse position. Clarke had been crying more than Octavia, that was for sure, but now that the younger one stopped screaming and insulting Finn, people around her started wondering if she would break down and cry any minute.

However, Lincoln did a great job, as far as Clarke could see. He was talking quietly to Octavia, helping her to cool down and stay calm, not only for herself or anyone around them, but also for her brother. It wasn’t the best time to smile now, Clarke knew that herself, but it was nice to see that Octavia had someone who helped her get through this.

Meanwhile, the only person who could make her calm down was currently lying in a hospital bed with doctors working on his head injury.

Sure, Raven and Emori, even Harper were trying their best to constantly check on her, asking if she wanted to go out for fresh air, but she just shook her head and smiled softly, thanking them for wanting to take care of her but she would be waiting here for a doctor to come. She hated herself enough for not being able to sit right next to Bellamy while he was going through all of this, so she wouldn’t leave the waiting room.

Clarke rose from her seat and walked over to the water dispenser, running her fingers through her hair at the same time, only making it messier than it already was. She couldn’t bring herself to care about the way she looked or how she felt gazes on her. There wasn’t anything that mattered to her right now other than Bellamy and how he was feeling.

And that was the problem because she had no idea. He would probably crack a joke the second they would see him again and somehow, the thought of it made her smile; even if only for a second. But then she remembered how Octavia was talking about Bellamy dying and it scared the shit out of her although she didn’t actually think that he would. As far as she could tell and from the knowledge her mother gave her, it was only a wound that probably needed stitches. Still, there could be further damage, too.

The blonde sighed as she walked back to her seat with a glass of water in her hand. Luckily, she had stopped shaking minutes ago, so she was now able to carry it all the way to her chair without letting it fall down.

She sat back down again and took a little sip from her water before she placed it on her lap, holding onto it.

There was nothing she could do other than wait for an update on Bellamy’s health. She only hoped that they would get it soon. She couldn’t take it any longer.

# # # # # # # # # # 

1.20 am.

Almost half an hour later, Clarke was standing in front of the counter in the women’s restroom, eyes fixed on herself in the mirror.

She looked tired, heartbroken, and scared all at once and for good reasons. They didn’t get any update on Bellamy yet and with every minute that passed, she grew more and more anxious. She didn’t want to pressure anyone; not herself nor her friends or the doctors. Yet, she just couldn’t sit around anymore and think about every kind of result that was possible by the time they would get new information. It was horrible enough for her that she agreed to go to the bathroom with Emori and Murphy. The doctors could walk into the waiting room any minute and she didn’t want to miss anything.

Clarke sighed and washed her hands. There was still a bit of blood on them from earlier that she wasn’t able to get off without hurting herself or crying again. But now she didn’t have time to break down again since Emori made her way to the counter, stopping next to her.

The blonde fixed her gaze on her hands and hoped that her friend wouldn’t try to start a conversation with her, but of course that wasn’t happening.

"How are you feeling?" Emori asked softly, causing her to close her eyes by the sound of it.

She knew that her friends only meant good and the way she reacted to the whole situation back on the beach probably told them that this was a hard one for her. To be honest, she wasn’t feeling anything. All she knew was that Bellamy was on his own in a hospital room without anyone he knew and she wouldn’t leave the hospital until she was allowed to see him. 

"Not so sure…" she replied quietly, drying her hands with some tissues.

Clarke didn’t want to say anything else. Her friend could imagine how much all of this was affecting her and she didn’t want to give Emori the opportunity to say something that would make her cry again. She knew. She was aware of it now. Still, she didn’t want to think about it or give it much of a thought. Not now, not yet.

"That’s understandable… but remember that this is not your fault, okay? Don’t beat yourself up for what Finn seems to be responsible for."

Clarke just nodded then threw the tissues in the bin. She knew that Emori was right. It wasn’t her fault; she wasn’t the one to blame but she wouldn’t blame Finn either, not until she was told what happened. God, there was so much she didn’t know yet and it killed her because she should know. She should’ve stayed with Bellamy after they finished playing limbo instead of leaving him and going to chat with Sasha and Raven. Perhaps, all of this wouldn’t have happened and they still would be at the beach… perhaps it was her fault.

She shook her head and turned to Emori. Her friend had a worried look on her face but she was still smiling at her a little bit. Clarke returned it then cleared her throat.

"Can we go?" she asked quietly.

Emori nodded and passed her to open the door already. Clarke didn’t say anything and just made her way out of the restroom. Murphy was leaning against the wall across from it and smiled lightly at her and Emori who followed her.

Clarke hadn’t talked to Murphy yet but frankly, she didn’t know how. She was aware that he had been sitting next to her back on the beach when Bellamy was lying in the sand and with that, he definitely heard everything she said as well. At this point, she didn’t even mind. It was just Murphy after all and she knew that he wouldn’t say anything to the others. Sure, she could imagine that he would like to talk about it with her later and to be honest, she wanted to too. She just wasn’t sure how to approach him about it so she decided she would wait for him to bring it up. If he did, she wouldn’t lie. There was no reason for her to do that with Murphy; he knew enough and she could trust him. So, no, she wouldn’t conceal anything or avoid the truth with him.

"Any news?" Emori asked him.

Murphy shook his head. "No, Jackson is trying to get himself involved since he’s a doctor, but it doesn’t look good for him. We might have to wait until they’re done with… whatever they’re doing."

Clarke sighed but nodded more to herself than to her friends. On the one hand, she was glad that she didn’t miss any update on Bellamy while she had been on the toilet, but then again, she wanted to know how he was doing. This situation hurt her more than she would’ve thought a week or two ago, but now she was here.

"Okay… let’s just go back then and hopefully we’ll get an update soon." Emori responded and Clarke could feel her friend’s gaze on her. She didn’t want to add something herself. She didn’t feel like talking at all so she just walked back to the waiting room with her friends.

She never had been a fan of waiting but now she was sure that she hated it.

# # # # # # # # # # 

1.40 am.

"Octavia Blake?"

Clarke lifted her head up and immediately fixed her stare on the doctor that was standing in the door jam. The woman was dark-haired and had a little smile on her lips while she swept her eyes over the room looking for Octavia. She turned her head to the side to look at Octavia herself and she seemed to try to keep her shit together as she rose up from her seat.

"Yes, that’s me," she replied, slowly walking to the doctor with Lincoln following her.

"Alright. I’m Dr. Mendez and I just came from checking up on your brother."

Octavia nodded slightly then cleared her throat. "Is… is he okay?" Dr. Mendez just smiled a bit then swept her eyes around the room again. Octavia seemed to notice this just like Clarke did and said something before the doctor could. "They are allowed to know. I would tell them later anyway…"

Dr. Mendez faced Octavia for a second before she looked at each one of the participants. It made Clarke feel a bit uncomfortable because she had no idea what was running through the doctor’s mind. She just wanted to know how Bellamy was and visit him as soon as possible. She couldn’t sit around like this anymore without knowing anything and she truly wouldn’t wait until they would let him out of the hospital to come back with them to the mansion. Definitely not.

The doctor turned her head back to Octavia and nodded a bit.

"Pick two people who can come with you. We can talk about his state in my office."

Clarke sat up correctly in her chair as she ran her hands up and down her thighs. There was the chance that Octavia would pick someone else to go with her like Miller and Murphy instead of asking her to come, but she wanted to. Fuck, she _needed_ to join her and be one of the first ones to find out in what condition Bellamy was in.

"Uh… okay." Octavia turned around and Clarke wanted to die because if she wouldn’t pick her to go with her, she would end up trying to find out which room Bellamy was in and sneak in there without blinking once. She couldn’t wait anymore. She had to know what was going on and she wouldn’t stay mute until she knew.

Octavia cleared her throat and tilted her chin at someone next to her. The blonde sighed and looked down at her lap.

"Murphy, Clarke?" She lifted her gaze again and was greeted by Octavia’s light smile. The brunette nodded slightly, enough for her to understand that her friend wouldn’t have let her stay here. She turned to Miller and cleared her throat. "I need you to take care of Finn. Can you do that?"

Clarke turned her head to Miller who was about to say something but was cut off by a female voice.

"He doesn’t need to be taken care of, but whatever."

Echo.

"Excuse me?" Octavia said, turning towards her now with her arms crossed in front of her breasts. "Can you repeat that for me? Just so I can make sure that I heard correctly."

The other girl snorted, causing Clarke to frown.

What the hell was funny about this situation? And why was she defending Finn now? Sure, no one did see what had been going on between him and Bellamy, but it was clear that Finn was responsible for his injury. So, why would she defend someone like him who also cheated on Raven, tried to… get closer to her, and claimed that Bellamy hurt her? I didn’t make any kind of sense and in a way, it even disgusted her.

"Thought you wouldn’t be able to hear correctly." Echo said, shrugging her shoulders at the same time.

"Oh please…" Raven muttered, getting up from her own seat and walking over to Echo. "Can you not start drama now when Bellamy is going through some shit on his own? We just want to know how he’s doing if you don’t give a fuck, then how about drive home?"

Echo scoffed again and tilted her chin at Finn. "For what? So you can go off on him? Nah, girl, sorry."

Octavia clapped her hands together and laughed a little bit. Clarke turned to Murphy and shook her head lightly, showing him that this was unnecessary drama and that she couldn’t handle this, too. He nodded and got up himself.

"How about we all calm down, yeah? Bellamy wouldn’t like us fighting now and this is really not a place where we should start doing this."

"I agree with Murphy," Emori added, whereupon Clarke mouthed her a thank you.

Echo laughed, turning everyone’s attention back to her and now Clarke really started questioning if she had any issues. She had been this rude since the very beginning of this show and never tried getting closer to anyone except for that one time she had something with Roan. She had no idea what Echo wanted here anyway if all she was doing was creating unnecessary drama.

"Of course you agree, Emori. It’s not like you would tell your lover that you think he’s wrong."

"Girl, what?" Emori asked, raising an eyebrow at the same time. "Learn to know your place, miss and don’t come at me for doing what you’ll never do in your life."

"I’ll come at you whenever I want to. You’re not telling me what I should do and what I shouldn’t."

Clarke now got up from her chair herself and walked over to Murphy. She didn’t want to have anything to do with this. None of this was currently helping anyone of them, especially not Bellamy. It was better to just walk out of here and go with the doctor to her office so they could leave as soon as possible.

Just as she stopped in front of Murphy, Echo opened her mouth again and this time it was about her.

"This is your fault, by the way! If you stayed with Finn, Bellamy wouldn’t be here. I hope you know that, Clarke!"

The blonde closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She learned to not listen to what Echo was saying from the moment she hated on her for wanting to be ‘in charge’. She really tried to be nice to her when she spent her time with Lexa and her friends but all she got in response for whatever she was trying or doing, was a glare. She should’ve known that something was wrong with her, yet she couldn’t figure out why she had to be so hateful.

Clarke opened her eyes again and turned around on her heels, facing the other girl now. She had pushed Raven out of her way and was now looking right back at her with her eyebrows raised. Clarke didn’t want to fight, she was tried enough of this situation so she spoke as friendly as she could.

"I don’t know what your problem is, but this really isn’t the time to start drama, okay? If you want some, go outside and punch someone in their face so you have someone to fight with because I won’t. I’m not in this fucking waiting room for a joke, got it? Just leave already and take Finn with you so I don’t have to look at both of your faces again."

The blonde turned around again and made her way over to Octavia who was already looking at her. She could feel everyone else’s gaze on her back but she didn’t give it any kind of attention. She just wanted to get out of here. She was done with Echo’s bullshit but apparently, the other girl wasn’t.

"Oh, I’m sorry…" Echo started sarcastically. "Did your boyfriend’s injury affect you that much?"

Clarke spun around while throwing her hands in the air. "And w _hat_ about it, Echo!? What do you fucking _care_!?" she yelled. "Mind your own business and stop getting on my nerves. It’s not my problem that you have zero empathy and that you’re the worst person I’ve ever known in life next to Finn! But hey! Perhaps that’s a sign! Maybe, just maybe you guys are a match! Congratulations, plus one beam!"

"Enough, guys!" Aryana shouted as she made her way into the middle of the waiting room. "There is no need to start this here, especially not when everyone is dealing with a real issue right now! Echo, Finn, think of an apology to not only Clarke but everyone in here. You should be ashamed for your behaviour in this current situation and you’re lucky that the camera team isn’t here! The next time, and this time I’m fucking serious… the next time I hear or see something like what Finn did or come across bullying in the house, the person gets immediately thrown out of the show! This is for everyone in here. Learn your lesson and stop being so rude towards each other. You create drama twice a week and you should stop doing that for your competitors, for the people who watch the show because they _judge, hard,_ and for your health! Mind your own business and start working on what you actually should be working on."

No one said anything after Aryana dropped that bomb on them. They all knew that she was right. Clarke knew that she was, but apparently they would never stop fighting. Even in moments like this, people still found a way to create drama and she, personally, thought that showed enough.

Octavia turned to Dr. Mendez and cleared her throat.

"Sorry. As I said I want to take Clarke and… John… Murphy, with me."

Dr. Mendez nodded. "Alright, follow me."

And they did.

Clarke was still not over what just happened in the waiting room and she had no idea what to think about that. There were really people out there who didn’t give a fuck about what was going on and just turned every situation into a bad one if they could. She really had planned on getting closer to Echo, try to be nice to her so she could make sure that she had interactions with everyone in the group, but after this… she wouldn’t even think about doing so.

Murphy nudged her in the side with his elbow and she lifted her gaze from the white floor to him. He sent her a soft smile which she returned easily before she turned her head, keeping her eyes on Dr. Mendez and Octavia who were walking in front of them.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. She just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Got it."

Clarke faced him again only to get greeted by him smiling and looking in front of them. It made her lip curl up a little bit even though there wasn’t really a reason to. She was glad that Murphy seemed to be more relaxed about this situation and that Octavia picked him to join them for the talk with Dr. Mendez. The two of them would probably be a mess without him in there so she was grateful for him coming with them.

They stopped at the doctor’s office and she let them in first. She told them to get comfortable and asked them if they wanted to drink anything. The trio said coffee in union and it made Dr. Mendez smile before she nodded and walked out of her office, closing the door behind her.

There was a desk standing in front of the window with a chair behind it. Two armchairs were standing across from it and some frames with pictures in them where on the desk itself. There was already a folder lying on the middle of it and she knew that it had to be Bellamy’s. If she still had been in middle school, she might have snatched it from there to already look into it, but she didn’t do it now.

Clarke continued sweeping her eyes over the room and was surprised with how different it looked in comparison to the white and clean hospital. The room had white walls and a while floor, but it was filled with black furniture: a bookshelf on the right side and the left wall had a big couch standing in front of it with two shelves hanging on top of it. It looked cozy, indeed and it made her feel a little bit better than she had been before. Now, she could only hope that they would get good news rather than bad ones.

"I’m still pissed, though," Octavia said, breaking the silence among them. "At Finn and at Echo. Can’t believe she really defended him and thought throwing shade at you was right."

Clarke sighed and sat down on one of the armchairs in front of the desk. The younger one dropped into the one next to her while Murphy kept walking around the room and inspected every detail. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to take part in the conversation.

"They’re both dumb human beings, Octavia. Don’t mind them. That’s what happens if you don’t want to get closer to people you should. Not saying that people who are more reserved are dumb, hell no. But these two? Yeah, real idiots."

Octavia snorted and it even made Clarke smile. If Octavia could handle this situation, then she was able to get through this, too.

"I’m just saying… Finn never stopped being a douchebag and Echo only sticks her nose in things she shouldn’t. Did she ever talk to one of us? No, she didn’t because she doesn’t care. But of course she had to open her mouth in a situation like this one."

"Whatever…" Clarke started while pulling her dress further down. "I don’t care. I just want to know in what state Bellamy is right now."

"Yeah…" Octavia replied softly and that’s when Clarke realized that the younger one just tried to keep thinking of anything other than how he was feeling right now. She had no idea what time it was and how long they would have to wait until they could see him again, but it wouldn’t take them long to find out.

Dr. Mendez entered the room again with a tablet in her hand and three mugs on it. From where Clarke was sitting, she could see that they were still hot by the steam coming from them. She smiled a little when the doctor closed the door and made her way over to them, placing the mugs on the table.

"I didn’t know how you guys like your coffee, but I bought milk and sugar just in case."

The trio thanked her while she pushed her chair over to their side. She told Murphy to sit down on it but he didn’t want to at first. He only sat down when Octavia threatened that he wouldn’t be allowed to visit Bellamy if he wouldn’t sit down. Of course, he didn’t need to be told twice, so he did.

Dr. Mendez sat down on the corner of her desk with Bellamy’s folder in her hand and waited for them to take their first sips of coffee. When Clarke did, she could feel how it warmed up her body, especially because she was walking around in a fucking strappy midi dress. She should’ve brought a jacket with her; she really regretted it.

After a few minutes of silence, Dr. Mendez cleared her throat and turned their attention back to her. Clarke put her mug on the table before she sighed, preparing herself for what she was about to hear. But with the smile on the doctor’s face, she could let out a breath again. It could only mean that things weren’t as bad as she thought, as everyone thought.

"Alright… let’s start easy first," Dr. Mendez looked at Octavia and took a pen and paper out of the pocket in her scrubs. She handed it Octavia who was frowning just like Clarke and Murphy, but they didn’t need to wait long for an answer.

"Your brother wrote down everything he’ll need for the next three days… Stop! Let me explain…"

Clarke shared a brief look with Octavia before they both looked at Dr. Mendez again.

"As you might know, he had a cut in his head. It wasn’t that deep, but we still needed to give him stitches. He was lucky enough for it to be at an easy spot for us to reach, otherwise, we would have razed off a bit of his hair."

Octavia let out a laugh. Murphy snorted and Clarke just smiled. _Thank God they didn’t._

"It didn’t hurt him at all, so I would say that he’ll be in a better condition in a few days. But, he has a concussion and that’s why we will keep him here for three days. We know that you guys are currently taking part in a Dating Show and are all staying in a mansion together, and that’s good for the days he’ll be back. Still, due to his concussion and with the knowledge of how much drama is apparently happening at your house, it’s better for him to stay here and rest a little bit."

Clarke nodded the whole time Dr. Mendez was explaining how things were and until they could completely understand why they wanted Bellamy to stay at the hospital. Although, she didn’t want to leave him here all by himself she knew that it was the best for his recovery. She wanted to stay with him, but because of the show, it was impossible. She hated this but there wasn’t much for her to do.

"Okay…" Murphy started, sitting up a little bit in his chair. "So… is he awake now? Did he say anything? Except from writing down the stuff he needs? Can we visit him?"

Dr. Mendez laughed by the amount of questions Murphy was asking her but even Clarke had to smile a little.

"He woke up as soon as we brought him into the room. The first thing he said was that a guy named Finn is an asshole."

"Now, that sounds like my brother." Octavia uttered, smirking at the same time.

Clarke shook her head and turned to face the doctor again. "And now?"

Dr. Mendez smiled again while looking at her and she didn’t know why, but just accepted it.

"You’re Clarke, right?" The blonde nodded slowly. "I see… He’s sleeping now. We gave him some ibuprofen so the pain would fade away and gave him another medication so he would be able to fall asleep. You can go visit him in an hour. He won’t be awake by then, but we didn’t give him a medication that will keep him asleep for long so he might wake up an hour after that. He wanted you and Octavia to be there, so I guess you should make sure to be around when he opens his eyes again."

Clarke could feel how her lip curled upward again by the thought of Bellamy saying that he wanted her to be there when he would wake up and fixed her gaze on her dress instead, playing with the hem of it. She should answer the doctor but somehow she couldn’t. Thankfully, Murphy took over.

"I mean… that’s good news right? So, he’s fine? He’s good?" he asked Dr. Mendez.

"Yes. He’s in a good condition and I think it’ll stay that way. That’s why we’ll only keep him here for three days to check up on him and to keep him away from drama. He can get picked up on Tuesday around midday."

Octavia was the next one to speak and she sounded a lot happier than earlier.

"God, thank you so much! Thanks for taking care of him… he never does that himself."

Clarke scoffed and lifted her gaze again. Dr. Mendez was smiling before she got up from the desk and walked towards the door.

The trio knew what that meant. It was time for them to leave the office again and tell the rest of the participants the news. They said their goodbyes to the doctor and thanked her again on their way out. She wished them good luck for the rest of the game and closed the door behind her when they were out of the office.

"Fuck… I’m so glad that he’s alright, guys." Octavia uttered.

Clarke didn’t even know what to say. It felt like she was alive again and could finally take a breath after almost two hours passed since they had left the beach. She was just happy about the fact that Bellamy was doing fine and that all he had was a concussion that would be gone in a few days. He really was lucky, but still they had no idea what happened. Hopefully, they would find out about it soon.

# # # # # # # # # # 

2.00 am.

Twenty minutes later, Clarke was sitting across from Murphy at a table in the hospital’s cafeteria. Monty and Jasper went out to buy everyone some food and came back with bags of In and Out Burger. She only wanted fries and was halfway through them while Murphy was still switching between taking bites of his burger or putting two or three fries in his mouth at once.

After the talk with Dr. Mendez, she felt a lot better and therefore was able to get some food inside her but was thankful that only Murphy was staying with her. Octavia drove back to the mansion with Lincoln to get some stuff for Bellamy and for her. (She told Octavia not to, but Murphy insisted on bringing pyjamas for her and her sketchbook so she would have something to do while Bellamy was still sleeping). Aryana assured her that she was allowed to stay here for the night but had to be at the mansion in the morning. She couldn’t believe that the host told her that it was fine. Still, she thanked her.

Clarke lifted her head and looked at Murphy who was, surprisingly, already looking at her. She blinked for a few times before she smiled softly which he returned. He turned his gaze to the second, untouched burger on his plate before he looked at her again.

"Sure you don’t want one?" She shook her head in response. Murphy frowned. "Why did I think you were a junk food kind of girl…"

Clarke snorted and ate one of her fries before she replied to her friend.

"I didn’t say that I’m not… I’m just not that hungry."

Murphy raised one of his brows whereupon she shrugged her shoulders. He nodded to himself and took a napkin to clean his hands.

"That’s fair. What’s your favourite meal?"

Clarke crooked her head to the side and started thinking. She liked a lot of food, she wasn’t picky or anything but she knew that she hated stuff too, like chili con carne or spinach. She smiled a little bit before she reached for her Sprite and sipped on it, using the straw. After that, she pushed it away from her and placed her elbows on the table.

"Junk food fav? Pizza. Without pineapples and no to champignons."

Murphy laughed which caused her to smile. "Alright, I see. A person that says no to pineapples on pizza. Italians would kiss you for it."

"No like… what do pineapples do on pizza? It’s oily and fruit does not fit on it. End of the discussion."

"I like that, Griffin. You’re not as bad as I thought." He admitted.

Clarke laughed. "That’s just because we never had a real conversation with only the two of us. It was always with someone else or about drama that happened in the house, so."

"Yeah, you’re- stop looking at my burger and just take it, Clarke. Don’t keep yourself from eating when the meal is right in front of you."

The blonde sighed and shook her head before she ate two of her fries again. Murphy didn’t say anything either, he was probably waiting for her to reply to what he just said, but she didn’t want to say her thoughts out loud. And not because she was ashamed of it or scared of Murphy’s reaction, hell no. He was her friend after all and… he knew. She sighed again when she realized that this was exactly the reason why she should tell him.

"I don’t want to eat it," she lifted her head from her own plate and smiled softly. "I want to keep it for Bellamy. I know the food is shitty in hospitals and Monty told me he forgot to buy something for him, so I want to keep it."

Murphy didn’t say anything for a good minute before his lip curled up a tiny bit. He just nodded and took a clean napkin, putting the burger inside of it. He pushed it over to her without saying anything else and went back to eating.

Clarke kept looking at him and waited for him to do or comment on anything, but he really didn’t. He didn’t give her any attention and just focused on himself as if she just said she wanted to keep the burger for someone random. It bothered her a little bit, but on the other hand, she was glad that he didn’t ask her until she would scream out the truth.

So, she continued eating too and they stayed silent for a while. It was weird talking about anything else than what was going on in the house and who belonged to who, which pair was new, and which pair should finally end things between them. Until now, it was more about playing the game correctly instead of opening each ones’ hearts to someone and to be honest, it only made sense that they failed every week. Everyone was so obsessed with finding their perfect match instead of falling in love and that was probably the problem. Hopefully, things would change after tonight.

"Murphy…" The guy across from her lifted his head again but had no expression on his face. "You know, don’t you?"

He didn’t say anything for a minute and just kept staring at her before he grabbed the napkin again to clean his hands. Clarke shifted a bit on her chair. She didn’t know where she wanted this conversation to go and she had no idea what Murphy was about to say to her, but she couldn’t keep it to herself, not after realizing it on her own. And truthfully, her friend seemed to be the right person to talk with about it.

Murphy placed his napkin on his plate and placed his elbows next to it. Meanwhile, she placed her hands in her lap and shook her legs. He raised an eyebrow at her, then shook his head and sighed.

"Of course I do. I’m not dumb, Clarke. And if you think I only know since a few hours ago, then you are wrong."

Clarke nodded slightly and chewed on her lips for a while. Murphy just kept looking at her and after a few seconds, he sent her a light smile which she returned. She knew that he was trying his best to make her feel better, but after finding out, she had no idea how things would go from now on. To be honest, she didn’t want anything to change. She just wanted everything to be like before and hoped that her behaviour wouldn’t change that much.

Murphy cleared his throat, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"I’m just going to ask you something and then tell you, alright?" Clarke nodded again but kept shaking her legs. "Are you going to tell him?" She shook her head. "Alright."

Her friend took a sip of his drink. Clarke didn’t know how to take this answer. _Alright_. That’s it? Wouldn’t he question her decision? Tell her that she should open her mouth and just say it out loud once? Think it in the words? No? Well…

"I’m not gonna judge you for just finding it out yourself and I definitely won’t tell anyone. I’ll keep it to myself because I respect your decision and because I want you to figure it all out perfectly. This could be only because of this situation now, even though I’m one hundred percent sure that it had been this way for a week now. Don’t worry that much about it now and focus on the more important things. _Currently._ Whenever you need me, I’ll be here for you and we’ll figure things out together, yeah?"

Clarke blinked a few times, gathering in what Murphy just dropped on her. She couldn’t believe that he actually reacted this way and didn’t freak out about it or try to tell her to make quick decisions now. He was being calm about it all and wanted her to take her time to fully realize what was happening. Well, if she thought she had great friends before, then she, for sure, could now say that they were fantastic.

She smiled softly at him and nodded. "That sounds great. Thank you, Murphy."

"No need to," he replied while waving her off and getting up seconds later. "Are you ready to go… visit your hubby?" he said with a smirk on his face and Clarke had to laugh.

Usually, she would’ve snapped at him for it, if not hitting the back of his head, but now she didn’t really mind. She just got up from her seat and took the burger with her, just like the rest of her fries and her Sprite. There was no way Bellamy wouldn’t call her housewife or something similar to that when Murphy would tell him that she kept food for him instead of eating it herself. She knew it, but she couldn’t help herself. She just wanted to make sure that Bellamy was fine.

And apparently, Murphy made sure that she was fine, too because when they walked over to his hospital room, he squeezed her shoulder lightly and told her that everything would be okay again and that Bellamy was doing fine. He then left her to herself in the room.

She could only smile and hope that her friend was right.

# # # # # # # # # # 

2.40 am.

Clarke was sitting on the right stool next to Bellamy’s bed while Murphy occupied the one on the left. Actually, Octavia should’ve been sitting on the one Murphy was in, but when Clarke walked entered the room, no one else was there. She didn’t think much of it until ten minutes passed. She then got up and walked back to the waiting room to see where she was, only to be greeted by a sleeping Octavia who had her head placed on Lincoln’s shoulder. Due to that, she decided to take Murphy with her and that’s how he ended up on the other chair.

After the talk in the cafeteria, she felt like he was the one she was the most close to, since they were sharing a secret now and always had a great friendship. Sure, she could’ve asked Emori or Raven to join her, but the two of them weren’t that close to Bellamy compared to Murphy. There was only Miller who she could’ve asked to come with her, but in the end she knew she would feel more comfortable around Murphy, especially with her sketchbook and pencil in her hands.

Bellamy still looked the same just like always, so it wasn’t hard for her to continue the drawing she started of him a week ago. His freckles weren’t as visible by the white light of the hospital room, but she could work on them as soon as he got out of here. His hair was still the same, a little bit messier perhaps, but she could live with it. Drawing it wouldn’t be that hard. The scar over his lip was just as beautiful as always and his lips, just as kissable as usual.

Clarke sighed and wanted to hit her own head by recalling the past weeks and realizing how dumb she had been, always claiming that her friends were wrong and telling them that they should mind their own business even though they were just trying to make her see what they were seeing.

She looked up from her drawing that was almost done and swept her eyes to Murphy who had been reading a book Octavia brought for Bellamy since they walked in here. He hadn’t commented on her pulling out a drawing of Bellamy and he hadn’t said anything to her wearing his jacket either when she found it hanging on a rail and put it on because she had been cold. She was thankful for him being silent about her behaviour and appreciated having him as a friend.

The blonde turned her attention back to Bellamy who still had his eyes closed. He had been sleeping for an hour now and Dr. Mendez told them that he wouldn’t sleep for that long. She just wanted to see his brown eyes again, to hear his voice again and to be able to see him smile. There wasn’t anything she wanted more than in this moment. She didn’t care if he would crack a joke the moment he would wake up or if he would ask for water or anything. She didn’t give a fuck. She just wanted him to open his eyes again, to call her princess and get under the blanket with him.

It hit her.

It hit her hard and she now knew it herself.

She was in love with Bellamy Blake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally? finally. 
> 
> as usual, comments and kudos are appreciated; other than that, see you guys on wednesday! <3


	22. Chapter 22

_"Thanks."_

_He took both of the beers the bartender placed on the counter in his hands and turned around. He gasped when Finn was standing in front of him and his mood immediately dropped a tiny bit lower. He rolled his eyes and turned around again, putting both beers down._

_"Bellamy… why are you being so rude?"_

_Finn stepped next to him and even though he had no intention of speaking to him he turned around, facing him now._

_"Are you always this annoying or are you just like this because we’re on a Dating Show?"_

_Finn laughed. "No, I just wanted to make things clear a bit."_

_He raised his eyebrows. He didn’t care about Finn, not at all but now, for the first time he was around him or heard him talking something interesting came out of the other guys’ mouth._

_He crossed his arms in front of his chest and titled his chin up a bit._

_"What do you want, Finn? I’m here to have fun and you’re currently ruining the night heavily."_

_"Well… you already ruined mine."_

_Now he was actually surprised. He did ruin Finn’s night? Things got more and more interesting from ever second that passed. For sure he wanted to just leave and walk back to Miller, so he could hand him his beer but Finn seemed to seriously want a conversation with him. Fine, he could have one._

_"Now I’m curious." He motioned him to continue with his right hand. "Come on, tell me."_

_Finn narrowed his eyes at him for a few seconds before he cleared his throat._

_"You and Clarke were a team at the limbo game."_

_He groaned and turned back to face the bartender while rolling his eyes. "I need a shot for this one."_

_"Let’s have one together."_

_"Finn, shut the fuck up." He turned his head over his shoulder, just enough so he could look at his competitor. "You’re still clinging onto her and constantly try to hit on her even though she already told you that she doesn’t want you? How long will you try? Until she pushes you off a damn mountain? Would you understand it then, perhaps?"_

_The other guy blinked a few times before he furrowed his brows. He just rolled his eyes and turned back to face the bartender who had already placed a shot in front of him. He lifted it up from the counter and downed it, not caring about how it started burning in his lungs. God, he hated them._

_"Bellamy… Why don’t you just back off yourself? It could be so much easier for Clarke to understand that we belong together but you’re in my way. In **our** way. Just keep your… body parts away from her." _

_He snorted and turned back to him, lifting one of his brows. "My body parts? Can you, I don’t know, explain that a bit further?"_

_Finn shook his head. "No, I’m not interested in thinking about it more than I already have."_

_"Ah. So, you were turned on? Last Thursday or… am I missing something?"_

_"Why do you have to be such an ass, Bellamy? I’m trying to work this out in a clean and fair way between two men who are interested in the same woman. But it’s just that the woman we’re interested in, only has eyes for one and that’s me."_

_He looked at Finn just as bored as he was by this whole conversation. He had no idea if this guy actually had some problems with his brain or if he was just trying to create unnecessary drama to get more screen time because until now, the cameras weren’t following him a lot._

_Finn noticed that he didn’t comment on anything he just said so he just frowned and continued._

_"See, you have nothing to say because you know that I’m right. We all know that Clarke doesn’t want you. That she’s just… having sex with you to get over me. I bet she screams my name when you guys have sex."_

_Now he actually had to laugh. He clapped his hands together while shaking his head at the same time. This guy was a comedian._

_"Whatever, Finn, believe what you want. I actually don’t care about what is going on in your head. Just remember that Aryana told you to stop with this bullshit otherwise you would get kicked out."_

_"Not before they kick you out for hurting Clarke."_

_He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Finn could say anything he wanted: that he was selfish, that he was just a guy of casual hook-ups and that he was lying to everyone around him. He was fine with that, because it was about him and him only. But the moment he brought in something like this, he could punch this guy not only in the face, but also elsewhere._

_"Finn… just shut the fuck up. I swear to God, you say you care about Clarke but then you go around and spread some bullshit like this. If you cared one bit about her, then you would stop this and let her do whatever the hell she wants. You’re this stupid to come to me and say that instead of going to her and asking her directly what is going on between us. Just let it go, Finn. Know your place."_

_Now Finn got a bit louder. "That’s because you probably told her to not tell anyone what really is going on between you!"_

_"Finn…" he turned around and took one last breath before he answered his opposite slowly and carefully. "I’m telling you one last time… don’t stick your nose into my fucking business. Don’t stick your nose into Clarke’s business and pull the stick out of your ass for not knowing the meaning of friends with benefits."_

_Finn moved around a little bit and only got louder. It seemed like him staying calm provoked this guy._

_"I know what friends with benefits is! And it hurts Clarke as much as it hurts me because she doesn’t want this!"_

_Enough was enough; he was done with Finn’s bullshit. He grabbed the two beers he ordered minutes ago and turned to Finn one last time._

_"I said whatever, Finn. Believe your fairy tales."_

_He was about to turn around when Finn stepped closer to him and pushed him backwards in one swift movement. The beers in his hands fell down onto the sand while he hit a stake of the bar with not only his back, but also his head. The only thing he heard before falling down onto the sand and getting unconscious was Finn’s ‘Oh fuck’…_

Bellamy snapped his eyes open but immediately had to throw his arm over them because of the white light that was in the room he was in.

"Big B?"

He snorted by the sound of his nickname that Murphy gave him. He should’ve known that he would ignore his wishes to let his sister and Clarke be the first one to be around him while he was lying in this crappy hospital bed that made his back feel horrible. Perhaps, he was old.

"Nice to hear you, too," he said but frowned in the exact same second when hearing his own voice. Did he sleep so much that he sounded this raspy now? God.

"Bellamy?"

Said person took his arm away from his eyes and turned his head over to the right side from where her voice was coming. He opened his eyes slowly, still not ready to be greeted by the strong light in his hospital room.

Bellamy smiled a bit when he found Clarke sitting on the chair next to his bed but it faded away the moment he realized that she still seemed worried and a tiny bit sad even though she was trying to hide it with a soft smile on her lips. He shook his head slightly but sat up anyway and scooted to the back of the bed. He swept his eyes from her to Murphy, who was sitting on the other side of his bed but in comparison to Clarke, he seemed to be more relaxed (it could be the reason why he had an eyebrow raised at him).

"Well…" Bellamy started before laughing a little. "Who thought I would end up in a crappy hospital while attending a reality show, huh?"

Murphy scoffed at that and shook his head at the same time. He himself just smiled lightly then turned his head over to Clarke who was now smiling genuinely. She bit her lower lip when he caught her, whereupon Bellamy lifted one of his brows. Clarke just shook her head before clearing her throat.

"We knew that you would joke around about your situation…" she said while shrugging her shoulders.

"And what about it?" Bellamy asked, making her laugh a little.

"It’s just you, I guess."

Murphy cleared his throat this time, turning their attention to him. He waved them off and rose up from the chair.

"I’ll go get the doc to tell her you’re awake."

Bellamy groaned. "And why would you do that?" he asked while lying down on his spine again.

"So she can check you up and we all can relax again?" Murphy questioned sarcastically.

Bellamy nodded lightly then turned his head to the side when he heard another chair being pushed away from his bed. Clarke just smiled at him and put her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Well… more like his jacket. He didn’t even recall taking it off but then again, he was on medication too and slept for one or two hours. However, he had no problem with Clarke wearing his jacket as long as it kept her warm.

"I’m going with Murphy. I’ll tell everyone in the waiting room that you’re awake while he’s going to get Dr. Mendez. Don’t fall asleep again, yeah?"

He snorted but closed his eyes for a second instead of nodding this time. His friends smiled at him before they turned around and made their way to the door. Bellamy could hear Murphy say something to Clarke quietly which made them stop in front of the frame, but he couldn’t figure out what exactly. She just looked at him over her shoulder before looking back at Murphy.

Bellamy furrowed his brows. He had no idea what they could be talking about, especially not when doing it so quietly. They were definitely discussing something; he could see that from where he was lying but he didn’t know what the two of them could have as a secret.

Clarke sighed and turned around before making her way back to him. Bellamy sat up again and to be honest, he had no idea why but in the end, it was the right choice because Clarke leaned down to give him a quick peck on his lips. It turned out that it didn’t end with one brief kiss, nor two but after the third, Murphy cleared his throat and made them pull apart.

While Bellamy was grinning at Clarke, she put a strand of her hair behind her ear then put her hands inside the pocket of his jacket again.

"We’ll be back in a second," she said, smiling lightly before turning around.

"Griffin!" Clarke stopped and looked at Bellamy over her shoulder who was now smiling a bit himself. "You can keep the jacket. Looks better on you anyways."

Murphy groaned while Clarke shook her head but even that couldn’t stop her lips from curling up again. Murphy saluted him which he easily returned before the two of his friends made their way out of his room, closing the door behind them.

And that’s when everything was quiet again and he gave himself the moment to go through what happened between him and Finn back on the beach. But first, he laid down on his spine again, looking up at the ceiling.

Bellamy sighed and rubbed his forehead for a few seconds before he placed his hand on his head. Finn’s jealousy was taking on another level and even though it should annoy him at this point, especially because he was the reason he was now lying here, he couldn’t be mad at him.

It was probably the first time he was ever rejected by a girl, two in this case, and he had no idea how to deal with it. Of course, it didn’t justify his actions: trying to get back with Clarke, talking shit about how he was treating her… sure not. But, he couldn’t hate him for it. And he was clearly surprised by the result of him pushing him, showing Bellamy that he didn’t intend for him to injure his head.

Or he was just being a nice person and that’s why he thought of Finn in that way.

To be honest, he had no idea. All he wanted was for this drama to be over. It wasn’t the time for drama anymore, especially with their fifth week coming to an end. And if this wasn’t bad enough, he would miss the Matching Ceremony, too. Dr. Mendez already told him that he had to stay at the hospital for three days which would be until Tuesday morning. He had no clue how the show would go with this, if they wouldn’t do the ceremony, if they would add a week or if things would continued like nothing happened.

Bellamy snorted. This was the first time such an accident happened and ended with someone being in a hospital and, of course, it had to be him. He couldn’t even be mad about it or find it bad in any way. It only meant that people would never forget this season and that’s how it should be. They had a lot of drama going on until now but in the end, they all got along pretty well and the time here wasn’t as bad as he expected before.

Jesus, the pills they gave him were making him sensible.

Bellamy got up from the bed and walked over to the little table that was standing close to the door. A tablet was on it as well as a napkin wrapped around something. Next to it, was a cup with a straw in it which caused him to frown. That definitely didn’t look like something a hospital would have so it probably came from somewhere else.

He stopped right in front of the table and took the napkin before he opened it. What was inside of it made him smile slightly but also shake his head. His friends really went to get burger and fries for him so he could survive this night in the hospital. That reminded him of the fact that they would be alone at the mansion and that meant they had to cook for themselves. He wasn’t so sure if that was more positive or negative. He just hoped that they wouldn’t burn down the kitchen.

Just as he folded the napkin closed again, the door to his hospital room opened and Murphy walked back in with Dr. Mendez following him. Murphy winked at him, whereupon he rolled his eyes but smiled lightly at the doctor that pulled the door closed.

"Mr. Blake-"

"I already said Bellamy is fine. I feel old enough with the way my back hurts from this bed." he said with a half-smirk, cutting the doctor off. She just smiled and nodded before she motioned him to get back to the bed, which he did.

"Alright, Bellamy then. How are you feeling?" Dr. Mendez asked him while taking a pen out of her scrubs.

Bellamy got under the blanket and scooted back to the end of the bed, leaning his spine against the wall.

"I’m feeling better. My head still hurts, though. From behind and from the forehead. To be honest, everything."

The doctor nodded and wrote things down on her clipboard. He turned his head to Murphy who just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the window, pulling the curtains away from it to look out of it. That made him realize that he had no clue what time it was and why Murphy and Clarke were still here instead of going back to the mansion where they should be right now. He couldn’t continue thinking about it because Dr. Mendez broke the silence amongst them again.

"That’s normal. You have a concussion so the headache will be there for a while. Do you want some more medicine against it or can you live with it?"

Bellamy snorted. He wasn’t the doctor so he had no idea what to answer to that one. He probably needed some more medication but he really didn’t feel like taking some, but if she was already asking this way...

"Nah. I’ll go back to sleep in a few, anyway. I think taking some in the morning will be more effective. Or when the pain gets real bad."

"Perfect. So, as far as I can tell, all the participants of the show you’re taking part in are still here and want to see you for a bit. I’m allowing them to visit you for another hour, but then you should say your goodbyes to them. For tonight, because it’s the first one and she seems very weakened by this situation, Clarke is allowed to stay. That is, of course, only if you’re fine with that."

If he was fine with it? Well…

"Now that is great news," Bellamy replied grinning. Murphy groaned which caused him to snort. "No, I’m serious. Thanks doc, I really appreciate it. Still… you’re telling me that no one left? They all came to the hospital and stayed here for…"

"Almost three hours," Murphy added while walking back to the bed and sitting down on the chair on the right side. "Yeah, nobody wanted to leave before seeing you. Seems like everyone loves you, Big B."

"Shut up, Murphy."

Dr. Mendez smiled and held up one of her hands to turn their attention back to her.

"Well… you guys have one hour. Make sure to not overfill the room and don’t be too loud. And Bellamy…" she trailed off, looking at him with a serious expression. "You have a concussion, keep that in mind. No fast movements, take care of yourself and try to stay away from drama."

"Understood. Will do." Bellamy replied.

After that, Dr. Mendez made her way out of the hospital room and the rotating begun.

Clarke and Murphy always stayed in the room whenever two other people would enter. He wasn’t surprised when Octavia came in first with Lincoln by her side and hugged him. She was definitely sleepy, so Bellamy didn’t want her to stay for long and even though his little sister started protesting against it loudly, Lincoln assured her that they would come back tomorrow while everyone else would be at the house again. She didn’t want to leave yet, so they had a quick chat for about ten minutes about how he was feeling and if anything hurt. Octavia even wanted to see his wound and joked about his hair almost being razed which made him roll his eyes. He was still glad that the doctors didn’t do that.

They left soon after that with Octavia promising him that she’ll be back around 2 pm. He just waved her off and wished her goodbye without anything else happening other than sleeping. Murphy laughed about that comment but he was being serious.

The next two people that entered were Emori and Raven. They both hugged him for a brief second then asked him how he was doing. He wasn’t lying when he said that he was doing fine except for his head, of course. Emori rolled her eyes when he mentioned it and he was about to ask her why, but the answer was clear: because Finn was the reason for  his injury and it seemed like that was their next topic.

"I really don’t care, guys. I’m fine. He didn’t do it intentionally, so it’s all good." he explained before putting fries in his mouth.

Raven took Murphy’s spot since he was still sitting on the chair right from Bellamy’s bed with Emori on his lap. Since he didn’t want Clarke to sit too far away from them at the table next to the door, he had his back against the wall again, sitting under the blanket with her underneath it, too, situated between his legs. She was leaning against him so that he was still able to eat the food he learned she saved for him. He had been joking about it for a bit, telling her that she might not be a real princess. Clarke was a bit offended by that, which he thought was adorable but within two, three seconds, it was fine again.

The same couldn’t be said about the Finn situation.

"Why do you say he didn’t do it on purpose!?" Raven asked perplexed. "Of course he did! You just said it yourself. He came up to you, tried to tell you to stay away from Clarke, and then he pushed you against a fucking stake?"

Bellamy groaned. "Yeah, but he was surprised that I hit my head on it? I don’t think he wanted me to hit the stake. I tripped, remember? So, it wasn’t his intention."

Murphy shook his head but didn’t add anything to their conversation. Meanwhile, Emori scratched the back of her neck and sighed. It was clear that none of his friends was believing him and wanted to blame Finn for this whole fiasco. He understood, for sure he did. Yet in the end, he knew that Finn never meant to hurt him physically.

Funny. As if this wasn’t what their whole conversation seemed to have been about.

"Look," he started, reaching out for the fries again but Clarke was faster and handed them to him. "Thanks… Anyway, what I wanted to say is that whatever happened, it was an accident. I’m not trying to defend Finn for his actions, God no. I’m still mad for what he said, but I’m tired of unnecessary drama. He can believe whatever he wants if this is helping him to be a good person. I’m just over holding a grudge on someone. This show will end in less than five weeks anyway and I think we have more issues than Finn right now. Make sure you pick the damn right person at the MC and that’s it."

Bellamy leaned his head back into his neck and put two fries in his mouth before eyeing his friends again. Raven clearly wasn’t agreeing with him while Emori and Murphy seemed to be more understanding. He had no idea what Clarke’s reaction was since she was sitting with her back towards him, but he could imagine that she could see where he was coming from. It was Clarke, after all.

"Okay," Emori said while getting up from Murphy’s lap. "Let’s be real. We all think Finn is an idiot but to be honest, I don’t think he wanted Bellamy to hit that stake, either. I’m not saying he’ll apologize, but he didn’t seem to be okay with his actions in the waiting room, either."

Raven groaned, turning everyone’s attention to her. The brunette just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine, I’ll give you that. But still. He hurt you and I’ll forever hate him for that."

"And that’s okay. I won’t. I just don’t care that much about him to feel something for him." Bellamy replied.

"You shouldn’t be feeling things for him anyway," Murphy threw in, causing Emori to pull a disgusted face.

They laughed about it for a bit and started another topic before they realized that they spent way too much time together. So, Emori and Raven hugged him again and said their goodbyes to Clarke then left the room in silence. The blonde excused herself and went to the toilet, leaving Bellamy alone with Murphy but only for good half of a second. Then Miller and Jackson entered his hospital room and surprisingly, his friend didn’t ask him how he was feeling and didn’t want to talk to him about Finn. This was actually the first conversation he had that wasn’t about him, but someone else.

Miller told him that he scratched people off his list for being his perfect match and that there were only Roan and Monty left on it. He already talked a lot to the both of them and he could only imagine one of them being his match. Bellamy assured him he would help him figure it out as soon as he would be back at the house and that his friend should pick one of the two at the Matching Ceremony on Sunday. Miller told him that he would definitely do so; he had no other choice anyway.

Clarke came back in the middle of their conversation, now wearing the pyjamas she already wore the day of the challenge: the white pants with matching button-up shirt that had clouds on it. Bellamy had to smile because of it and apparently that was the reason for her blushing again. That never was his intention but he would be lying if he didn’t find it adorable.

She climbed back into his bed when Miller and Jackson left the trio alone again. They didn’t really have time to talk about what was currently going on since Zeke, Monty, Jasper, and Wells entered Bellamy’s room next. He supposed that they were already standing outside and just waiting for the others to leave the room, so that the next couple of people could visit him for a bit. It was smart, to be honest, because that meant that he soon would be alone again, _alone_ with _Clarke_ and that’s what he wanted. She didn’t talk much yet, especially not to him and he wanted to make sure that she was doing fine. Sure, at the moment he probably should stop thinking about his friends and worry about himself more, but he just couldn’t. Not with Clarke acting the way around him like she was right now.

Monty, Jasper, and Zeke stayed for a little longer than Wells. The latter just wanted to quickly apologize for what happened to him but Bellamy waved him off and told him that there wasn’t any reason why he had to say sorry. He hadn’t been involved and wouldn’t be in the future so everything was fine. Wells added that he always would have an ear open if he needed anything which Bellamy really appreciated. They didn’t have lots of conversations with each other, but it was nice seeing Wells being this kind to him and trying to help whenever he could.

When the guy left, Bellamy focused on his two crazy friends again who placed a bag on his bed the moment he looked at them.

"Am I missing something?" he asked them while grinning slightly.

Jasper shook his head before Monty cleared his throat. "No, we just got you something."

Bellamy furrowed his brows. What could his friends give him at the current state he was in? They were freaks so it was probably something as crazy as he could expect. But what should he expect then?

There weren’t many options of what Monty and Jasper could have gotten for him, especially not if they had decided to buy him something. Of course, there was still the store next to their mansion that had some good stuff but for sure there wasn’t anything for him personally.

So he wasn’t surprised when Monty pulled two glass bottles out of the bag instead which had some paper slices glued onto them. While shaking his head, the smirk on Bellamy’s lips only grew wider.

"You guys made me moonshine?" His friends nodded slowly with a big grin. "I mean, thanks but I’m not allowed to drink any while taking medication. You guys know that, right?"

Jasper’s eyes widened for a brief moment which caused Murphy to burst out into laughter. Meanwhile, Clarke shook her head and leaned back against Bellamy chest. He wrapped his arms around her but laughed a little himself.

"Just keep it. I bet you’ll need it at some point," Monty said as he patted Jasper’s shoulders.

"Oh definitely. Yes, I agree."

Clarke snorted and turned her head a little. "Do I need to ask what you’re planning on doing now after getting this kind of information?"

"Nope! You don’t!" Jasper replied before he saluted them. "Anyway, we gotta bounce. Take care of yourself, dad. And mom? Take care of dad! Au revoir!"

Bellamy just laughed and saluted them back with Murphy together. Clarke just muttered something under her breath that sounded like ‘idiots’ after a little snort of hers. He believed that him being in the hospital hit her deeper than he thought at first, but to say that he didn’t see that everyone walking in and out of his room was stressed for her too, would be lying. It was a lot for himself, too and if he was being honest, all he wanted to do was sleep again. That’s probably what Clarke wanted to do herself.

Harper, Sasha, Maya, and Luna visited him only for a few minutes. They assured him that they wouldn’t burn the kitchen down and that he should take all the time he needed to get ready. He had no idea where they got the bar of chocolate from that they gave him, just like the flowers that were now standing on the table next to the door. Maya told him that he needed to feel comfortable in this room, so a bit of décor wouldn’t hurt. Bellamy laughed at that but thanked them anyway. He didn’t ask for it, but she was right. The room looked pretty bleak and the fact that he hated hospitals didn’t make him feel that great here.

Actually, Bellamy was grateful for Aryana allowing Clarke to stay here with him for the first night. He needed that company and was glad that it was _her_. Otherwise, he would probably go crazy in here.

Still, the visiting of his competitors wasn’t over yet. As soon as the four girls left, Lexa and Costia entered the room. For some reason, it wasn’t awkward at all that Lexa was there, too. The couple wished him a well recovery and Lexa even apologized to him for whatever reason. He didn’t understand at all but the girl said Clarke knew why she was saying sorry. Lexa assured that she wouldn’t do something like that again, especially because she wanted the whole group to win this game.

That was great to hear for Clarke, Murphy, and Bellamy. The latter wasn’t sure if this was Costia’s influence or if Lexa actually revised her behaviour. It wasn’t that much of a deal in the end. He told her that everything was fine and that he wasn’t mad at her. Clarke also told Lexa that she didn’t want things to continue being weird and avoiding each other wasn’t great for the game either.

In the end, they decided to keep things normal from now on and try to behave in the best way they could.

As soon as the two girls left Bellamy’s room again and Murphy excused himself to the toilet, he asked Clarke why Lexa apologized to him. Therefore, she turned around so she was now facing him, still sitting between his legs.

"Remember the day I sleep walked to you?" He nodded in response. "Well… I obviously went back to her room to get the few things I had in the closet and we kinda talked about you there, not that much, don’t flatter yourself."

Bellamy snorted. Now he definitely was curious about what she talked about with Lexa.

"Anyway, she just said that she doesn’t understand why I’m friends with you but she also said that I-"

He turned his head a little when Clarke stopped talking but didn’t want to push her to keep going, even though he wanted to know what else Lexa said about him. She just shook her head and smiled at him.

"It’s not that important… but yeah, that’s what she apologized for."

Bellamy nodded slowly. "Does that mean she is now all in for our friendship?"

Clarke rolled her eyes and turned around again, causing him to laugh a little. He knew that she wasn’t seriously mad at him, but it was adorable anyway. They got back into their previous position and waited for Murphy to come back which he did after a minute. He opened the door again and surprisingly, the next visitors were Roan and…

"Finn?"

Bellamy turned his head around to the door when Clarke mentioned his name and was a bit irritated by seeing him walking into his room. To be honest, he couldn’t imagine what he wanted to tell him other than apologizing perhaps but then again, he had no idea if Finn would be willing to do that, especially with Roan by his side. Sure, he already thought that it wasn’t Finn’s intention to hurt him at the beach, but it was still weird that he really made his way to him for some reason.

He cleared his throat and motioned Murphy that it was okay to let the both of them in, which he then did. His friend closed the door behind them while Roan and Finn made their way towards his bed. They didn’t sit down or anything, rather stopping in front of him and Clarke while Murphy walked back to the left chair and sat down on it.

No one said anything for a good minute or two and Bellamy could feel the tension rise between the five of them. It annoyed him in some way, more than he considered this situation an awkward one.

So he decided to take one for the team and speak up first.

"As much as I think that it’s nice of you to come visit me, Finn, I wouldn’t have expected this."

The other guy nodded slowly while scratching the back of his neck. It was clear that this should’ve been a conversation between only the two of them, but since Clarke and Murphy wouldn’t leave his side, he believed that Finn didn’t want to come here on his own either. Understandable.

"Yeah, well. It took awhile for an update on your state and I had some time to go through all the stuff that happened in the past few weeks, especially this one."

"Sit down, Finn." Murphy muttered. Bellamy nodded slightly into Finn’s direction, assuring him that it was fine if he would sit down next to his bed, so he did. Meanwhile, Roan walked over to the window and looked out of it, not taking part in the conversation.

Finn shifted a bit on the chair until he seemed to be comfortable enough. Then he swept his eyes from Murphy to Clarke, back to Bellamy who just looked at him and waited for him to finally get back to talking.

Which he then did.

"I just want to say that I’m sorry for all the things I did and said. First of all, of course I need to apologize to Clarke that I started something with you while I was still with Raven. It was a bitch move, especially because I knew that your ex-boyfriend cheated on you in high school. I really meant it by the way… that this is disgusting. I can’t believe that happened to you at such a young age so I’m even more sorry that I put you through this."

Clarke lifted her hand to wave him off before she put it back under the blanket. "It’s okay."

"It’s not, but yeah… to continue. I should’ve understood that you didn’t want me in any way and I went too far when Zeke had to pull me away. I realized that my behaviour was bad in that situation, too and said sorry immediately, you know that, but it still wasn’t good for me to come back to you and try to get you back."

Bellamy sighed while being close to running his hand through his hair but then he remembered his stitched wound and rolled his eyes instead. He hated this already and couldn’t wait to be able to mess around with his curls again.

"To go back to what actually caused you, Bellamy, to get in here," Finn said, which turned his attention back to the younger one. "To use your time in prison as a reason to accuse you of… well hurting Clarke was the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life and I guess that my jealousy took over my rationality. I never wanted to hurt you personally by saying this and I’m really sorry about bringing your past into this. It was bullshit and to be honest, I’m embarrassed of myself."

Bellamy’s lip curled upward while he shook his head. For some reason, he thought that the way Finn was apologizing to both Clarke and him was adorable.

"I hope we somehow can all start from the beginning and yeah, give each other a chance again. I totally understand if you don’t want to have anything to do with me, I personally wouldn’t if I was you, but I really hope that we can. Not only for my personal wish, but also because we all want to win this money, don’t we?" Finn finished, smiling a bit at the same time.

"Well…" Murphy started, clearing his throat after that. "I have nothing to do with all of this but I still want to say that I’m glad that you apologized to both Clarke and Bellamy. I think it’s important that we get our shit together, especially now that we’re close to starting the sixth week. So… yeah I’m glad that you came to say sorry. That’s it."

Finn nodded Murphy a thank you while Bellamy tried to form some sentences in his mind. He wasn’t so sure yet about what to answer to the guy to his right and he had no clue if Clarke wanted to say something first. In the end, he knew that he needed to say something to Finn and he definitely wanted to, but what exactly was still a mystery.

Bellamy just sighed and begun thinking of how to reply to Finn’s apology but it wasn’t necessary in the moment because Clarke decided to go first and give Finn an answer.

"Okay, I figured that this isn’t a lot about me but I still would like to say a few things… I guess," she turned her head to face Bellamy for a second whereupon he frowned, not quite understanding what she wanted to say. But then she just smiled at him and turned back to look at Finn again. "Bellamy wants to think about what he’s going to say anyway, so yeah."

Bellamy shook his head slightly but that didn’t stop him from smiling, if only for a bit. He couldn’t describe how grateful he was to have met Clarke and he didn’t plan on letting her go, not at all. She was too special to him and important in a way that he couldn’t quite figure out yet. He should probably do that soon, but he had to focus on the here and now first, which was, in fact, Clarke talking to Finn for the very first time about all the things that had happened between them.

"See, I’ll accept your apology because I’m tired of the constant drama and I went through a lot of shit here already. Somehow, it doesn’t seem to be ending so I try to reduce the amount of stress that I have, especially because I got cramps due to it… that’s what I think. Anyway… I’m not a fan of what you did, actually I’ll always be mad at you for coming at me and trying to get me back or that you tried to tell everyone that Bellamy used me. _I_ decided to sleep with him. I _want_ to, so never ever again try to say bullshit like that. I know that you’re sorry about it and like I said, I’ll accept your apology and stay nice for the sake of this show and for my own health. But I gotta say that I won’t be sad about leaving after week ten and only seeing you again for the reunion."

Bellamy swept his eyes from Clarke to Murphy while she spoke. His friend seemed pretty relaxed about all of this and the way his lip curled upwards a little bit just confirmed it. To be honest, he wasn’t so sure if it was more about the way this situation turned out or because of how Clarke reacted to Finn’s apology. For him, personally, it was both.

The guy in the right chair cleared his throat which turned Bellamy’s attention back to him. Finn was scratching the back of his neck before running his hand through his hair and for a good second Bellamy wanted to go through his curls himself but knew he couldn’t. Dammit.

"Alright, well…" Finn started, a little smile on his lips. "I can’t express how thankful I am for you to forgive me for my mistakes but I totally understand that you wouldn’t miss me, that’s nothing I would do myself if I was you. Just…. Thank you, really. I might not deserve it, but I’m grateful for you doing it anyway, Clarke."

The blonde just nodded and turned sideways, still turned to Finn but now her face was placed on Bellamy’s shoulder which he was now able to see. She was looking at him already and when he sent her a soft smile, she returned it before looking down for a brief second then closing her eyes. He could only imagine how sleepy this whole situation made her and according to the clock hanging on the wall across from him, it was almost 3 am. He himself just wanted to go back to sleep, so he turned back to face Finn while wrapping his arm around Clarke’s side.

"Guess it’s my turn to say something now."

Finn shook his head. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to…"

"Relax, Finn. It wasn’t a question or anything." he replied with a light smile on his lips.

"Oh."

Bellamy laughed a little before he cleared his throat and got serious again.

"Anyway, I don’t have much to say and to be honest, I already made up my mind about this whole situation. Yes, I still think that you were behaving like a bitch and that everything you did and said was fucked up. But for some reason, I think that you’re actually a nice person if you want to be and I’m tired of drama so… yep, I forgive you. But because of you, I can’t run my hand through my hair and I hate you for that, I really do."

Finn seemed to be shocked by his answer and he would be lying if it wasn’t funny to look at. Perhaps he was being way too nice to him after everything he threw against his head, but he really believed that they should put their grudges aside and focus more on winning the game. They completely messed up until now and he really had enough of it. So armistice it was.

"Thank you, Bellamy… I’m really sorry for this whole drama I caused and I do appreciate that you accepted my apology."

He frowned and shook his head while snorting a bit. "Okay, that’s enough. Please stop acting like I’m higher than you or something, it makes me feel weird."

Now Finn laughed himself, probably realizing that he really was acting the way Bellamy just told him. It made himself smile a little before he nodded slowly to himself.

"Good. Since that’s done now, can you guys go? Not to be rude or anything, but I’m really getting tired and Clarke seems to be sleeping already." Bellamy uttered.

"I’m awake, idiot," she responded but he was still able to notice how tired she sounded.

He just smiled a bit then looked over to Murphy who shook his head, agreeing with him. He then faced Finn again who was just getting up from the chair right in that moment.

"One last thing," he said while pushing the chair against the bed. "Echo left so… she won’t be visiting you or anything. But she wants me to tell you to get well soon and to take care of yourself."

Bellamy nodded. "Thanks for that. You can tell her."

"Alright."

With that, Roan and Finn walked out of his room and left him alone with Murphy and Clarke. He sighed and hit the back of his head against the wall and closed his eyes for a second. He had no idea if he was so tired and sleepy because of the medication he was on or if it really was too late for him to still be awake. All he knew was that he wanted to turn the light off and go back to sleep, especially because he could feel how his head started pounding again.

But first he had to talk to Murphy and make sure that Clarke was comfortable enough herself to go to sleep.

So, he opened his eyes again and turned his head to the side to look at his friend who was currently reading a book. He frowned for a second but remembered that he wrote a list for Octavia on which he told her what stuff he would need for his stay at the hospital. Meaning, Murphy was reading _The Iliad_. Hilarious.

"Murphy."

"Mhm?" His friend lifted his head from the book and looked at him, whereupon Bellamy just raised one of his eyebrows. "Oh. Yeah. Got it."

Bellamy shook his head and grinned a bit while Murphy closed the book again and placed it next to his bed. After that, he got up and stretched his back before he titled his chin at Clarke.

"She’s sleeping, by the way. I don’t know if she’s already completely ready for bed or not, but I guess you don’t want to wake her up, right?" Murphy said quietly.

He nodded slightly and sighed. "No, I won’t. Just hope that she won’t wake up again when I’ll slid down to get comfortable myself."

"And even if," his friend started while shrugging his shoulders. "She’ll fall asleep in seconds."

Murphy made his way over to the window and opened it before pulling the curtains closed once again. Bellamy followed him with his eyes when he walked to the door and placed his hand on the door handle, turning sideways so that he was able to face him one more time.

Bellamy snorted, whereupon Murphy just grinned and saluted him.

"Stay safe, no morning sex in the hospital."

"Fuck off, Murphy." His friend just laughed while turning off the light and made his way out of his room, turning off the light and shutting the door behind him quietly.

Finally, it was silent again and he could relax a bit. He still couldn’t believe that he was at the hospital while being a part of the Dating Show but what shocked him even more, in a good way of course, was that Clarke really decided to stay with him for the first night. Sure, they had been sleeping in a bed together for weeks now and that wasn’t even his problem. It was just nice and irritating all at once that whatever was going on between them seemed to be that important, not only for him, but apparently for her too, that she didn’t want to stay without him at the mansion.

And if he was being honest, he had no idea if he would’ve survived the night with a good sleep without her.

Bellamy didn’t know if there was anything better than Clarke falling asleep in his arms at the end of a rough day, especially with challenges and drama going on around them. But for sure, he preferred it more when they would go to bed together after one of those nice days in the house.

He smiled to himself before he slid down on the mattress and placed his head back on the pillows. He didn’t care if the position they were currently lying in started getting uncomfortable since they were situated like this for more than an hour now. As long as Clarke was able to sleep well and be comfortable between his legs, head on his chest now, he didn’t mind and wouldn’t wake her up because of that.

The last thing he did was tighten the grip of his arm around her and pulling the blanket closer to them, making sure that she wasn’t freezing. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head and closed his eyes, smiling a bit at the same time before he murmured his last words against her hair before falling asleep.

"Night, princess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like the whole group finally bonds with each other, doesn't it? Let's see how many beams they get on Sunday then...  
> Do you think they'll get more or less than five? 
> 
> As usual, comments and kudos are appreciated! I'm sending all my love to each single one of you, thanks for reading and supporting me! See you guys on Sunday <33


	23. Chapter 23

1 pm.

Clarke shut the door behind her as soon as she entered the mansion. It wasn’t as quiet as she thought it would be and she knew that most of the voices were coming from the kitchen area. However, the first person she saw was Luna. The girl was sitting on the couch across from where she was standing and sent her a light smile when she noticed her arrival. Clarke returned it softly before walking towards her and stopping in front of the arm rest.

"Hey. Did I miss anything?" she asked her, whereupon Luna just shook her head.

"Not that much but there was a little bit of drama yesterday when we got here, but nothing serious."

The blonde furrowed her brows as she tried to figure out what kind of drama could’ve happened again. To be honest, the only thing that came to mind was that the argument that took place in the waiting room at the hospital had still been a topic when they all got back to the house.

Meanwhile, Clarke didn’t tell Bellamy about it at all. Sure, she could’ve told him that there had been drama, but just like the doctor had said, he needed to recover from his concussion and therefore, she decided to stay mute. Perhaps she would speak to him about it in the upcoming days, but if she was being truthful with herself, she didn’t want to.

"Echo?"

Luna rolled her eyes before she nodded, sighing at the same time. "Her too, yeah. Raven was still pissed about what she said at the hospital. Echo noticed, made a comment too and because of that, Raven went off on her. Roan, Murphy, and Zeke separated them as soon as it became too much and Murphy talked to Raven. I guess Roan was taking care of Echo, but I’m not sure. Went to bed after all that drama."

Clarke shook her head lightly while adjusting the bag she had on her shoulder. Of course Raven got into a fight with Echo. It almost happened in the waiting room anyway so she wasn’t surprised that they had an argument as soon as they got home. Still, it was annoying and she hoped that they all would stop fighting soon.

"Not really surprised but there isn’t much we can do," Clarke said before she covered her mouth with her left hand and yawned. "Sorry."

Luna just laughed and waved her off. "Don’t worry. Long night?"

"No," Clarke replied while making her way over to the couch, sitting down next to her friend. "I don’t even remember when exactly I fell asleep…"

"So… you woke up this morning and? How is he? Feeling better?" Luna asked her while turning her head towards Clarke.

The blonde nodded as she placed her bag on the floor in front of her. She then turned around so that she was now facing Luna and pulled her legs closer to her, sitting cross-legged now. Her friend tilted her head to the side and frowned a little bit, yet she was smiling. Clarke laughed before she ran her hand through her hair and sighed.

"He’s doing alright, could be better, of course. Still had a headache and wished that he could be here instead of staying at the ‘crappy hospital’ all on his own."

Clarke looked down at her hands that were placed in her lap, smiling lightly to herself. Waking up this morning truly was horrible, especially when sharing a hospital bed with another person. To be honest, she was willing to do it again. Of course, that was only because it was Bellamy. She had been able to check up on him the whole morning and made sure that he ate enough, even though breakfast was served way too early for her liking.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that she actually enjoyed being at the hospital with Bellamy. There was no one around who could annoy them (other than the nurses and the doctor) and they had been able to behave how they wanted without anyone commenting on the way they were acting around each other… well, more like how _she_ was acting around him.

She wished she could press the pillow that was currently next to her into her face because, God, she had been embarrassing. First, he caught her analyzing his face when he was still sleeping and woke up out of nowhere. Then, when they ate breakfast together and he insisted on feeding her a little bit, she made a stupid comment about it being couple-y, whereupon he asked her if she thought that’s how they were acting. He didn’t even seem to think about it that deeply which kind of scared her, but in that moment, it only made her blush.

And as if that hadn’t been enough, they took a shower together and since Octavia only put her pajamas, toiletries, and one pair of underwear into her bag, she was forced to wear some of Bellamy’s clothes. That was the only reason why she was now wearing his black pair of sweatpants and the red hoodie she’d already worn at the challenge. That actually reminded her of the fact that she still had another pair of his sweats and one of his shirts in her drawer. To be honest, she didn’t plan on giving them back, either.

She was not only in love with this guy, she was _embarrassingly_ in love with him.  

"Anyway…" Clarke said, lifting up her head at the same time and smiling a bit. "He’s as good as his condition allows, I guess; a joker like always, but more tired than usual."

Luna nodded while smiling a little bit. "That is good news, though. Hopefully things will get better from now on."

"Yeah…" Clarke replied as she turned her head to the kitchen area where Maya, Harper, Costia, Wells, and Zeke were currently spending their time. She frowned a little as she asked herself where the rest of the group was, but didn’t give it much of a thought either.

The blonde faced Luna again who had her gaze fixed on the people at the kitchen, too. Clarke lifted one of her brows while smiling before she cleared her throat, turning her friend’s attention back to her.

"What is it?" Luna asked her, whereas she shrugged her shoulders.

"I’m just a bit curious… about who you think your perfect match is." Clarke replied.

The girl next to her laughed slightly while shaking her head. "You’re asking me a question I don’t think I’m able to answer yet… No, seriously I wish I knew but I’m clueless. I talked to a lot of guys and girls already, but it never seemed to be that deep? Like… I never had that feeling that I don’t want to lose that person or that I feel very comfortable around someone and whatnot. I don’t know, but I’m working on it."

Clarke tilted her head to the side and sighed slightly. Hearing Luna say all these things made her realize even more how dumb and delusional she had been, especially in the week of her birthday. She really should’ve listened to her friends instead of telling them that they were just seeing something that they wanted. But in the end, she was the only one to blame.

The blonde rolled her eyes the moment she was sure Luna wasn’t watching her anymore. She couldn’t even listen to her friends talking about how things were going for them in this game without thinking about her dumb behavior and own feelings.

She was not only a dumbass, but also a bad friend.

"Sorry…" Clarke told Luna which got her attention again. "Drifted off."

Luna just waved her off and smiled a little. "It’s fine, don’t worry. That happens to me so often. Sometimes people continue talking to me and I don’t even realize it."

"Well…" Clarke said while placing a pillow in her lap. "Anything else? Did you guys talk about the Matching Ceremony tomorrow?" 

"Actually, we did, yeah. Monty and Raven came up with a strategy. We spoke about it this morning and discussed if we think they did it right and all that. If you want I can tell you about the pairs later?"

Clarke smiled and nodded slightly. "That would be great. I still want to go and take a nap. Breakfast in hospitals are way too early."

Luna started laughing but Clarke knew that she wasn’t doing it to laugh about her. Still, the blonde rolled her eyes to seem as if it slightly annoyed her. Luna stopped a few seconds after that and shook her head.

"Clarke, just go take a nap already. We haven’t planned out things for today anyway so we’ll have plenty of time to chat a little bit more if you want?"

The blonde nodded again before she placed the pillow behind her again and leaned forward so she could pull her friend into a hug. Luna returned it immediately and patted her back two times before breaking the hug again. Clarke smiled at her which caused the other girl to do so herself.

Clarke cleared her throat as she got up and took her bag off the floor. She swung it over her shoulder again before she looked at Luna once more.

"I’ll see you later then?" The blonde asked whereupon her friend moved her head a bit.

"Yes, of course. I’ll probably be downstairs then."

"Great," Clarke replied then smiled one last time at Luna and made her way towards the bedrooms. Therefore, she had to pass everyone who was currently spending their time in the kitchen but all she did was greet them. However, she knew that they wanted an update on Bellamy, but since she told Luna about his condition already, she had been sure that this would be enough.

As soon as she reached the second floor, she let out a sigh of relief. Her bed wasn’t far away from her anymore and she couldn’t wait to get under the blankets. She knew it would be weird to sleep in such a big bed on her own, but she also knew that it wouldn’t be like this forever. He would be back Tuesday midday and she would be a liar if she denied that she missed him. She couldn’t wait to lie down together, tell each other goodnight, and fall asleep in his arms at the end of a long and stressful day.

# # # # # # # # # # 

2 pm.

There wasn’t anything that Bellamy hated more than hospitals, from the white walls and floors to the overall vibe of them.

The last time he had been in one was after Octavia had an accident with her motorbike. He remembered how worried he was about her and how he yelled at the doctors and nurses to let him stay by her side twenty-four seven. Obviously, he hadn’t been allowed to do so since she was operated on. From then on, he felt nothing but hate towards clinics and hospitals.

Yet, it didn’t make it better that he was now in one all by himself instead of staying at the mansion, trying to win the Dating Show with the other participants.

"Bellamy? Are you even listening!?"

He spun his head around to his sister instead of keeping his gaze on the window. The brunette was currently sitting on his bed in front of him and had a confused expression on her face. Bellamy just sighed and waved her off.

"Sorry, this hospital is making me sick."

"Sick!?" Octavia jumped off the bed which caused him to roll his eyes. "Do you need a doctor?"

Bellamy groaned and shook his head. "You know I hate clinics and all this shit. There’s nothing more to it."

His little sister just raised one of her brows before she climbed back on the bed. For a good minute he waited for her to say something, but she just went back to reading something in the magazine that she got from the waiting room.

Octavia came about an hour ago, just some minutes after Clarke left. They had been catching up on each other: if things between Lincoln and her were still going well, how she was feeling in general, and if she missed being home in New York. Surprisingly, Octavia didn’t talk about _that_ topic and only focused on his health. It annoyed him just slightly since he knew that his sister only wanted him to be fine, but she acted like Finn broke his nose. She was overreacting but he wouldn’t tell her that. Otherwise, it would end up in a massive discussion.

So instead, he just got back to their last topic which, apparently, wasn’t.

"Did you decide when you want to visit us again? In the mansion, I mean." He asked.

Octavia shook her head in disbelief and for some reason, he felt bad. He really cared about his sister and wanted to concentrate on their conversation, but the fact that he was in the hospital and wasn’t getting any updates from the house (except for when Clarke came to see him) annoyed him a bit but made him curious.

Still, he felt bad for his behavior towards his sister.

"I was actually talking about something else, but yeah I want to be there for the Truth Booth next week. Lincoln thinks it’s a great idea since it would be the first one to miss out on, but on the other hand, I also think Friday sounds good because of the house party? God… this one day rule is shit."

Bellamy snorted. "Be glad that this is allowed at all in this season."

"You got a point," Octavia said, smiling a bit. "But still… what do _you_ prefer?"

Bellamy tilted his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I think that Wednesday is much better than Friday. I don’t know if we will even still have one again after what happened yesterday, so… and I have something else planned for next Friday anyway."

Octavia’s eyebrows shot up which caused him to grin slightly.

"What do you mean you have something planned? What even? You’re just staying at a mansion. You’re not driving to a whole other city. Bellamy… what are you talking about!?"

Now Bellamy really had to laugh. He had no idea why his sister was freaking out so much about him saying that he already had something in mind for Friday evening. There was no way he would tell her about it; he wouldn’t tell _anyone_ about what he thought of preparing for that day. He couldn’t believe that this actually came to _his_ mind, but the idea never left his head again and to be honest, that wasn’t even possible when staying at the hospital on his own for three whole days.

"Not gonna say it." Bellamy answered while shrugging his shoulders before getting up and walking towards the bathroom.

"Not gonna say it!? Hello, what the fuck? I’m asking you something, big brother! How about tell me instead of acting like it’s a big secret!?"

Bellamy laughed and turned around, leaning against the door jam of the bathroom so he was still able to face his sister.

"Maybe you’ll know after Friday. But that isn’t my choice to make."

Before Octavia could add anything, he turned around and made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. He could hear her let out an annoyed groan and it made him laugh.

Never ever would he tell her what he had planned for Friday. Perhaps it was a little bit too much, but it was time to use his cooking skills for a much better reason than just feeding his friends and competitors.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 5, Day 31 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 9 pm.

"Bon soiree madames et monsieurs. Welcome to your fifth Matching Ceremony!"

Just like the rest of the group that was attending this weeks ceremony, Clarke cheered for it to finally be here. After the Truth Booth disaster on Wednesday and the results of the beach party, she wanted things to get better. With this Matching Ceremony, it could, especially after they decided to go with Monty and Raven’s strategy. For sure, there was the chance that they were still wrong and could get a blackout, lose all the money, and end up leaving Los Angeles without love, but she really believed that today’s ceremony would turn out better than the ones before.

If that was even possible without Bellamy being there.

"Alright! As you might have noticed, we sadly have to go through this Matching Ceremony without one of your competitors. Bellamy is currently at the hospital after the accident of Friday’s party, but we all hope that he will get well soon and of course, best wishes to him."

Clarke smiled while clapping just like everyone else around her. She knew that Bellamy wasn’t that sad about not attending their fifth ceremony, but she still wished that he could have been there.

"Other than that… no one is sitting today, except for our confirmed perfect match, of course. Can anyone guess why?" Aryana questioned while raising one of her eyebrows.

As usual, Jasper was the one who replied to her. "Well, we finally cracked the test you gave without telling us!"

The host laughed but nodded in response as soon as she got serious again.

"Correct. Took you guys long to figure that Miller and Jackson are not a match, which lead to you talking about your sexualities. Do you think you’re going to do better from now one with the knowledge of other’s sexual preferences? Wells?"

Clarke turned her head over her shoulder and looked at Wells who was standing in the middle of the second row. He smiled a little and shrugged his shoulders.

"To be honest, I have no idea. We all hope that this will change much and gets us to win the money and obviously find love."

The blonde sighed slightly and took her gaze off Wells, only to search for Murphy. He was standing at the other end of the second row and seemed to be chatting with Zeke, not noticing her looking at him. She turned back around completely and faced Aryana again. However, she still had to figure out when exactly her feelings started changing for Bellamy to the point where she _really_ couldn’t pretend that she wasn’t in love with him.

She didn’t pick anybody else other than him at the past Matching Ceremonies and wouldn’t do it now. Yes, it took her long to realize that Bellamy was her perfect match and she felt stupid because he had been right in front of her the whole time. But instead of considering him being hers, especially because they got along so well, she kept saying he wasn’t and searched for someone else.

Clarke shook her head and snorted slightly. She had been monumentally stupid.

"Wonderful! So, just to explain how things will go from now on, I’ll call eleven random people to me and you decide who to pick. There are no rules, guy or girl, it doesn’t matter. But obviously you must choose wisely and make sure that you pick a person you already have chemistry with, if not feelings. That’s what this game is about anyway. Just like last week, one beam will be lit already since you have one confirmed couple, Octavia and Lincoln. Blackout if you don’t get another one to light up. Other than that, everything is the same. Any questions?"

Everyone’s eyes were on the host while she explained how things would go from now on. Clarke wished that they would’ve talked about each other's sexuality earlier since now they didn’t have much time to jump from one person to another. The show was close to the end and until now, it really looked bad for them.

They all just nodded or motioned to Aryana that they understood, which lead to her officially starting the ceremony.

"Perfect. The first person I call to me is Clarke."

The blonde had a surprised expression on her face while everyone else started clapping and cheering around her. It was the first time that she was called to the podium early on and being the first one to pick someone. Sadly, she would be sitting alone today.

As soon as she got to Aryana, she smiled lightly and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Okay Clarke, I bet you know why I wanted you to be the first person to pick someone tonight." The host said while her lips curled upwards, just a tiny bit.

The blonde nodded before clearing her throat. "Yeah, well," she laughed a little, "it’s not the best situation right now but there isn’t much I, or anybody else, can do, so."

"That’s right. Who would you like to pick tonight as your perfect match?" Aryana asked with a smile on her lips.

Clarke didn’t say anything for a good minute. She knew who she wanted to pick but at the same time, she had no idea if she was able to take him as her match when he wasn’t here anyway. Maybe she had to pick someone else, someone who was still standing on the stage, but she didn’t want to. So…

"My match for this ceremony is, unsurprisingly, Bellamy."

"Sweetie, you can’t choose him if he isn’t here."

The blonde spun her head around and looked at Echo who was now grinning at her. Clarke shook her head slightly in disbelief. The girl still had the audacity to comment on her behavior after what happened at the hospital and thought that what she was saying was valid.

Luckily, Clarke herself didn’t need to say something to Echo since Aryana jumped in.

"Actually, she can. One person is missing so we wouldn’t have eleven full matches. Someone needs to pick Bellamy even if he isn’t here. We still have his hand print from last week so it’ll be added to Clarke’s. Do you have an issue with that?"

Everyone turned their heads in Echo’s direction. Clarke smiled at her, just enough to tell her that she wasn’t winning this game. The girl just narrowed her eyes at the blonde before she rolled them.

"No. It’s all good." was everything she said in response.

"That’s what I thought… Anyway, Clarke, place your hand on the monitor then you can go sit down."

The blonde did so before she walked over to sit on the seat next to Octavia and Lincoln. They both smiled at her, yet Octavia leaned over and squeezed her shoulder lightly. Clarke just shook her head a bit but returned the smile before she turned her attention back to the host and the rest of the group.

Unsurprisingly, choosing someone as ones match went pretty well due to their talk earlier today and on Saturday. Monty and Raven were such a great help for them, they would definitely fail without these two and their glorious minds.

As usual, Murphy picked Emori and just like they did once before, they kissed in front of everyone when the both of them had been standing in front of the podium. Aryana commented with saying that it seemed like they really considered themselves a match.

But to be honest, Clarke herself wasn’t paying that much attention. She just asked herself if Bellamy would ever kiss her at the Matching Ceremony… perhaps. Yet she didn’t believe that.

Costia was the third person to choose her match for the fifth ceremony and as expected, it was Lexa. Each one of the group hoped that they really were a perfect match because otherwise, they would be wrong about a pair they had been so sure about again and that shouldn’t happen twice.

They locked into the system and walked over to the seating area before they sat down.

Monty picked Sasha again even though he told her some days ago that he wasn’t so sure if they actually were a match. It was all a little bit confusing, but they always sat together when they had lots of beams, so they all didn’t tell them to not pick each other. Clarke believed that it would be hard for them to separate each one from another since feelings were clearly involved, but she still wanted them to be a match.

"Nathan, it’s your turn now." The host announced.

As per usual, everyone started clapping while Miller walked down to the podium and stopped right in front of it. Clarke could see how Aryana smiled at him for a brief moment before she got back to being her serious self.

"I know this week had been a hard one for you. What do you say about your current situation yourself?"

Miller cleared his throat before he shrugged his shoulders. "Indeed, yeah. To be honest, I can’t do anything else than try to find my perfect match now and even if it’ll be hard to let go of Jackson that fast, I’m here with a bunch of other people and I don’t want to ruin the game for them."

The host nodded briefly before she pointed at the rest of participants on the stage.

"Who are you going to pick today then?" Aryana asked.

Miller turned around and nodded slightly to himself. "I pick Roan as my match tonight."

Clarke didn’t see them interacting much other than when their group of friends split up. To be fair, she hadn’t talked to Roan since then and he was distancing himself from her, so it just made sense that she had no idea how his relationship with Miller was.

But Monty approved of them being a match, so they locked into the system before Maya was called to the front.

The girl picked Jasper for the first time at this ceremony and even though it should surprise Clarke, it didn’t. They spent a lot of time together at the beach party so it only made sense that Maya would choose him.

It seemed like the two of them switched up partners since Wells chose Harper as his match. Nobody questioned it and just trusted in what each person was feeling for another, just like they believed in Monty and Raven’s strategy plan. 

Jackson was called up to the front next and it was clear that he wanted to pick someone other than who Monty told him to. Clarke could understand that. She wouldn’t want to be in his skin right now after falling in love with someone, only to be told they weren’t each other’s match. God, she didn’t want to think about it… she already had a lot of other stuff to deal with.

Jackson chose Luna as his perfect match for the night, whereupon the both of them went to sit down on a seat together.

"Alright. Raven, you’re next." Aryana said.

The brunette made her way towards the host and stopped right in front of the podium. Aryana’s lip curled upward before she nodded.

"What news can you tell me about you?"

Raven laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well… this show is harder than I thought and I’m still not sure who my match is. I get along with a lot of people and there might be a few people who I consider as my perfect match, but yeah."

"Do we get to know who these people are, Reyes?" Murphy shouted, getting everyone’s attention within seconds. Clarke couldn’t help but smile the moment she saw her friend grinning, but quickly turned her head back to Raven. She hadn’t talked with her about particular matches of hers so she only could be interested in getting to know who exactly she was talking about.

But instead of doing so, Raven shook her head and faced Aryana again.

"Sorry. I’ll choose one now anyway and maybe you’ll see me switching up from time to time in the next few weeks. I know we shouldn’t switch up a lot anymore and I get that, but as I said… I’m not so sure yet of who I really think is my match."

The host raised one of her eyebrow before she nodded slowly. "Then who’s your match for _tonight?_ "

"For tonight, I’ll pick Zeke as my perfect match," Raven said while turning around and pointing to the older one. He walked towards her and smiled lightly, which the brunette returned.

To be honest, it even made Clarke smile. She really wanted Raven to get back into this game after everything that they had been through. Her friend deserved to fall in love herself and hopefully she would be in a relationship with that person for as long as possible. Yeah, Roan often came into play, but Raven said herself, it had only been sex between them.

Clarke wasn’t sure if she wished that it kept staying like this between Bellamy and her or if she was glad now that she finally figured out what each feeling she had in the past two weeks meant. Probably the first option, but only because she knew that Bellamy felt completely different than her and she would accept that. She wanted to keep the friendship she had with him and wouldn’t let her feelings get in between that. It was only a question of time. She would be okay with him not returning her feelings, she would be.

The blonde shook her head. She really had to focus.

Finn and Echo were the last pair to lock into the system. Clarke still believed that they were a perfect match, although she didn’t feel hate towards Finn anymore. However, she couldn’t say that about Echo. She was far away from liking her and truthfully, she knew that she wouldn’t start doing so soon. It wasn’t what she wanted, but there was no way the two of them could ever get close.

"Perfect," Aryana started as she smiled and placed her hands on the podium. "Now that everyone is paired up, we get to the important part of this ceremony. As usual, behind me are eleven beams. One of them," she trailed off and pointed to the one beam that was already lit, "is already lit since Octavia and Lincoln are your one and only confirmed perfect match right now. If you don’t get any other beam tonight, your prize will get cut into half of the money. You know that already. So… you guys ready?"

No one said anything for a good minute and to be honest, it was understandable. They were all hoping that Monty and Raven’s theory was correct. In no way could they handle another fall back, but apparently, one of them was brave enough to respond to the host.

"Aryana, just bring it on, though. This week has to end already." Lincoln uttered.

"Alright," Aryana said before she turned around and the light went off. Now, there was no way back.

Since Clarke was sitting alone this time, she wrapped her arms around her own body and threw her right leg over her left one. To be honest, she really wanted this week to be over because of several reasons. The Truth Booth result was still haunting her just like what happened at the beach party. Even though Bellamy was in a much better condition than before, the pictures just didn’t leave her mind. At the end of the day, she only wanted Tuesday to be there faster so that Bellamy would be back and everything could be like before.

Well… if that was possible with what she was feeling for him.

God, why did she always come back to this topic? Her mind was playing games with her and she hated it. But seriously, would she be able to act normal around him? Like she had been before? It had already been awkward when she stayed with him alone at the hospital, even if it wasn’t as bad as she expected. Still, she just couldn’t imagine how things would go from now on.

But there wasn’t really much time to continue thinking about that when _a beam lit up_.

"First official beam for the night, no blackout! Two beams in general!" Aryana shouted whereupon everyone just clapped their hands. It was obvious that they still had some trust issues with what they were doing, with the pairs and the whole game overall.

To be honest, Clarke started thinking about which pair really was a match. It was harder than she thought and therefore, she appreciated how much time and work her two friends were putting into this strategy. Even though they were her friends, she believed that they weren’t one hundred percent correct with what they came up. Meaning, she didn’t believe that they would get all the beams lit up tonight. If she was being truthful, she didn’t want that to happen either. Knowing that everything would come to an end if they would get eleven beams tonight kept her from hoping for that. Maybe that was stupid, but she knew that her journey shouldn’t end here.

The blonde sighed while raking her fingers through her hair and swept her eyes over everyone else. Most of them had their eyes fixed on the beams in front of them if they weren’t talking to each other. In moments like this, she really missed Bellamy by her side, but she would definitely visit him again tomorrow; that’s what she promised herself already earlier today.

But first, she had to smile and clap her hands together again when the _third beam_ lit up.

"Three beams, Ladies and Gentlemen! Let’s see if we get up to five in total again!" The host shouted.

"Please… just give us more than that."

Clarke turned her head around to Costia who shared the seat next to her with Lexa. The girl seemed nervous and anxious about this Matching Ceremony, but who was she to judge her because of that? They all had the same goal: finding love and winning this game with one million dollars on top. Who wouldn’t feel the same way as Costia did right now in the situation they were in? She could bet that everyone was feeling a little bit nervous right now but currently, it didn’t seem to be necessary at all since…

The _fourth beam_ lit up.

Now Clarke rose up from her seat and clapped her hands together again, this time a bit harder than before. They already had four beams and she could only hope that much more were about to come. God… she wished Bellamy was here to be able to go through this with not only her, but everyone else.

In no way would she not drive to the hospital in the morning to update him on what happened. Therefore, she had to go to bed right after this ceremony would end. She wouldn’t let anybody tell her that it was too early to do so because she really couldn’t help it. She just missed spending time with him as much as possible on a daily basis and hated laying in bed without him. Sure, Raven, Emori, and Harper offered her to share beds with her until Tuesday, but it just wasn’t the same.

And she certainly couldn’t sleep next to them when she hadn’t told them about her feelings yet.

The blonde felt bad because of the fact but she knew how things would escalate the minute she would tell them. They were her friends, yes, and she was aware of the fact that she could talk with them about anything. Still, she also knew how they were with reacting towards Bellamy’s and her behavior together already and after she told Raven to mind her own business, she felt weird telling her that she had been right.

Or maybe she was just way too shy to really speak out the words. Yes, she had been talking about what she felt for Bellamy with Murphy, but she never said those five words out loud. They were in her mind, perhaps more often than she wanted them to swim around in her brain, but it wasn’t the same as speaking it. Would she even be able to do that? Probably not.

She should just stop thinking about it that much but her sitting alone on the seat didn’t make it any better. Luckily, their _fifth beam_ of the night lit up and she could use it as an excuse to walk to Sasha and Monty who were three seats away from her.

"Am I missing something or does it look pretty good for us right now?" Clarke asked as soon as she got there, making Sasha turn around to her. The girl smiled and shook her head in disbelief.

"Seriously? I have no idea. But we definitely have to thank Monty and Raven for that."

Clarke turned her head to Monty who was rolling his eyes a bit but couldn’t hide his smile either. He just waved them off and tilted his chin to the beams. "We’ll see how many we get tonight. Don’t get too excited."

"Always so humble…" Sasha said which caused Monty to roll his eyes again.

After their short conversation, they all turned their attention back to the beams and waited impatiently for another one to light up. It would be their new record, six beams instead of stopping at five or getting less than that, but at the end of the day, they didn’t have to worry about that because the _sixth beam_ lit up.

Everyone around Clarke was screaming and freaking out about it while she just decided to pull Sasha into a hug. She was smiling like an idiot and she honestly didn’t want to stop doing so. Monty and Raven’s strategy was actually working out and they just got another beam. This week might have been the worst for each one of them, but seemed like they would still get a happy ending.

"I would do anything to get another one! Please, if there’s a God out there, please give us another one!" Jasper shouted.

But after that, everything turned silent. Each one of the participants had their eyes glued on the six beams that were already lit and kept their mouth shut. This was the first time it had ever been that quiet amongst them and it was just obvious that they were all tense and hoping to get another one.

Seconds and seconds passed without a beam lighting up and Clarke was sure she would pass out soon. This feeling was just as bad as sitting on the couch and waiting for a pair to be confirmed at the time of the Truth Booth. She just wanted another fucking beam. She could imagine how proud Bellamy would be of all of them and how good it would make him feel to hear that they got seven beams. 

And then it happened.

The _seventh beam_ of the night lit up and that was the end for everyone trying to stay quiet and keep their shit together. Everyone was screaming and jumping around the winter garden, hugging each other and Clarke was sure that she even saw Maya crying a little bit before she pulled her friend into a hug.

This was unbelievable.

After such a shitty week, they just got seven beams. No one expected that to happen at all and truthfully, she didn’t care if they would get another one. Seven beams were incredible and she was so proud of Monty and Raven; she was glad that they had them in there group.

When the light turned on again and Aryana turned around, no one really paid attention to it. They were still in shock and kind of celebrating the fact that they got such a high number of beams today. There wasn’t alcohol and music involved yet, but that was definitely going to change the minute they would get back to the mansion.

The host wasn’t able to say anything herself. She just shook her head but had a smile on her face and whenever she tried to say anything, parting her lips to do so, someone else screamed around the garden again. At one point, she just gave up and told the camera team it was time for them to leave.

Clarke really couldn’t stop smiling. She had no idea how many emotions she was feeling at once, but even if she wanted to celebrate their seven beams with her friends, she needed to get up early tomorrow so she could visit Bellamy at the hospital and tell him about the great news.

The blonde laughed a little by the thought of his reaction. She really couldn’t wait to see him again and make him catch up on everything he missed out on this ceremony.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello, after a whole month I'm back with a new chapter! I apologize in advance for the long wait I've started uni, my first semester, and I had to get into a routine first before being able to focus on this fic again. But from now on updates are coming weekly again, every Friday around this time and believe me I'm as glad as you guys are for posting again. Thank you for the long wait! 
> 
> Still... thanking you this way is not enough for you guys nominating me for the BFWA. I've been nominated for three different categories!? Best modern author, Best work in progress and Best smut work in progress!? You guys are crazy and unbelievable I couldn't love you more than I already do! Being nominated is already enough for me, considering that this is my first fic ever in English so I appreciate each one of you guys! 
> 
> But now I'll stop ranting! Here's the last hospital chapter!

Week 6, Day 32 – Monday. Los Angeles. 5 pm.

Planning things in one’s mind was much easier than doing it.

Clarke was standing in front of a long shelf in the store next to the mansion. It was filled with a multitude of stuffed animals. She already had a small basket in her hand which was overfilled with snacks. 

But it wasn’t her fault. 

How could she know what Bellamy liked most? Yes, she had had the chance to ask him when she visited him yesterday, but the thought of staying with him for today, for the evening, had just come to mind after she woke up this morning. Bellamy had no idea that she would come to see him today and due to that, she wanted to surprise him a little bit. He was in a hospital after all; he couldn’t be too busy. 

"So, what are you looking at right now?" 

Clarke turned around, just a tiny bit so she was facing the camera team again. Aryana told her that it was now important to let the viewers take part in what happened. Apparently, the host had already talked to Bellamy and asked him if he would be okay with being filmed while having visitors. From what Aryana said he was okay with it. 

And that’s why the camera team was now with her in the store and would drive with her to the hospital afterwards. 

"Stuffed animals..." was all she said while smiling before she turned around again.

Her blue eyes swept over the different animals in front of her, considering purchasing one so Bellamy had something that would remind him of her while he was staying at the hospital. She knew it was Monday and that he would be discharged the next day but still... Who said he couldn’t take it home with him? 

Clarke sighed. 

She had no clue which one to get him. It wasn’t like she thought she didn’t know him well enough to be able to pick one; it was more a question of what he genuinely would like. 

The blonde stepped closer to the shelf and placed the basket down in front of her. The first stuffed animal that caught her eyes was an elephant. It was plain grey, not too large, but just too boring in her opinion. Yes, Bellamy was adorable and softer than people thought, but an elephant? Dear God, no. 

Clarke sighed again but kept looking through the plushies in front of her. There was a mouse, a small giraffe, a bear, but nothing quite fit to something she thought Bellamy would like. It was not like she thought these kinds of animals were cute anyway.

But dammit, she wanted to buy him one, even if it also seemed a bit cheesy. As far as she knew, guys typically were the ones who bought their girls a stuffed animal. Yes, she referred to herself as his girl. Maybe, just maybe, her feelings for him were deeper than she had originally thought and if she was being truthful with herself, it even scared her. 

The blonde shook her head. "Not another breakdown, Griffin. The one earlier today had been enough." she said to herself quietly so that the camera team wouldn’t hear and catch it. After that, she swept her eyes over all the animals again before she groaned. "Forget it." 

Clarke grabbed the basket again, more rougher this time, before she slowly made her way to the front and with that, to the counter and cashier. It didn’t seem like God wanted her to buy Bellamy a stuffed animal, perhaps because it just wasn’t his thing. She should’ve known. 

One last time, she took a look in her basket and made sure that she got everything she had thought of before she lifted her head again and looked around, checking to see if she was still going in the right direction. 

But when she saw _that_ , on the shelf next to her right now, she stopped walking and blinked a few times. Automatically, her lips curled upwards and she begun smiling. It didn’t really make sense to her, but the moment she noticed it, she couldn’t think of leaving it here and knew that it was the right decision to make.

Clarke placed her basket on the floor again, not caring if it was now standing in the way or what the camera team was thinking, and walked over to the shelf. She then picked up the stuffed animal and was surprised by how perfect the size of it was: not that big and not so small either. 

It was a grey dolphin with a white hat on its head which fit to the white stomach it had. The mouth of the dolphin was parted and baby pink from the inside. It surprised her that it looked happy in a way she couldn’t quite place, but she liked it. She truly did. 

But most importantly, she knew that Bellamy wouldn’t hate it. Perhaps he would mock her for buying him a dolphin as stuffed animal, but she couldn’t help it. It was cute and Bellamy could be adorable from time to time, so it made sense. End of the discussion. 

Clarke hooked the dolphin under her arm and reached down with her other hand to grab the basket again. As soon as she had everything she needed, she walked over to the counter, for real this time, and payed for everything. It was more expensive than she thought it would be, due to the dolphin, but she didn’t mind. Bellamy deserved it all. 

The blonde walked out of the store with a smile on her lips. To her luck, Aryana got them an uber so that both the camera team and her could be driven to the hospital. It was a kind gesture on behalf of the host that the show was willing to help so that Clarke didn’t have to pay with her own money. Maybe this show wasn’t as bad as she thought in the beginning.

Still, the only thing she could think of right now was how Bellamy would react to her surprise visit. All she wanted was to be good company for him and talk about random stuff while eating lots of snacks. They hadn’t done something like that yet, so she was nervous on the one hand, and excited on the other.

Clarke couldn’t wait to spend the rest of the evening with the person she knew she loved most.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Bellamy walked out of the bathroom just when there was a knock on the door.

God seemed to hate him.

He just finished showering and wasn’t wearing anything other than a towel that was wrapped around his waist. His hair was still wet and he knew that he probably should dry himself first, but if this was Octavia on the other side of the door, she would kill him for taking so long. Clarke, on the other hand, would probably say nothing at all and just try to keep her shit together.

Maybe, just maybe he wished that it was her.

A wrinkle made its way between his eyebrows the moment he pulled the door open and saw someone else standing in front of him. He never could’ve guessed that _she_ would be on the other side and would come to visit _him_. Perhaps, she just wanted to be friendly.

For once in her lifetime.

Bellamy cleared his throat and pulled the door further open.

"Echo."

"Bellamy," she replied with a grin on her lips.

He just nodded slightly but didn’t let go of the door handle. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Oh, well…" The girl in front of him started, now smiling at him rather than smirking. "I didn’t visit you the day you were hospitalized, so I decided to come back and tell you to get well soon. I even got you something… nothing big but you’ll like it."

Bellamy quirked one of his brows before he let his gaze fall onto the gift that she was holding up. He frowned a little, not quite understanding what the girl was trying, but he didn’t want to be rude either.

"Uh, alright. Come in, I guess." He let go of the door handle and made more space for her to be able to pass him. She did so while sending a light smile his way which he wanted to return but couldn’t.

Echo didn’t continue looking at him and just walked inside before she placed the gift on his bed. Meanwhile, he himself closed the door and turned around, following her movements. It seemed like she wanted everything to be perfect, the way she came here, with a present in her hands, the one that she now was placing on his bed carefully. He had no idea what she could have gotten _him._

Still, he had to change.

"Sorry," Bellamy said as he made his way back to the bed, stopping right next to her. "I didn’t know anyone was coming and I just got out of the shower. Can I leave you alone for a minute?"

Echo turned sideways so that she was now facing him, just like how he was looking at her already. It took her almost half a minute to answer because, as he could feel, she swept her eyes over his torso first. He didn’t know why she was doing so, but he started feeling a bit uncomfortable with her gaze on his half naked body.

Due to that, he cleared his throat to get her attention back to his face. The girl in front of him did so before she nodded with a light smile on her lips.

"Of course. I probably should’ve given you a heads up that I would be visiting, but as you can see, I couldn’t." Echo explained.

Bellamy just nodded before he messed up his curls a little. "Uh, yeah, anyway. Just… stay here I guess. I’ll be back in five."

"Sounds great," she replied with a grin.

He furrowed his brows before he turned around and made his way to the bathroom. It irritated him that Echo came to see him even though they hadn’t talked to each other once. They weren’t friends, had nothing in common from what he knew about her, and on top of that, she never seemed to be interested in getting along with any of the other participants either. It was only valid that he was confused by her visit.

He stepped in front of the sink as soon as he entered the bathroom. He wanted to win a million dollars with everyone, but to be able to do so, they had to get along with Echo. At the end of the day, it couldn’t be that hard, right? 

"You got this, Blake," he said to himself before he started drying his body and getting dressed.

He might be most comfortable when wearing nothing other than joggers and a hoodie, but he missed dressing up for the Matching Ceremony. He couldn’t believe that he really wasn’t able to make it to one. Perhaps Echo’s visit wasn’t as bad as he thought. 

As soon as Bellamy was done, he threw his towel over the heater and walked back into his room. Echo was sitting on his bed with a book in her hands. He was pretty sure that it was his, but it only showed him that she was either interested in Greek history, mythology, and everything that had to do with it, _or_ she just was interested in him.

"Do you like it?" Bellamy asked while making his way towards his bed. 

Echo lifted her gaze from the novel and raised one of her eyebrows before she shrugged her shoulders. "I haven’t read it, but I would if you loan it to me for a bit."

"Really?" Echo nodded whereupon he had to laugh. "Okay, yeah sure. I mean, we’re still here for a few weeks. I bet you can finish it in that time."

Echo didn’t say anything in response and just fixed her gaze back on the book. Bellamy frowned and tilted his head to the side. The situation was definitely awkward and he really had no idea what to talk about with the girl sitting on his bed. He knew nothing about her and she knew nothing about him.

"Well…" he started and sat down next to her. "What’s my present?"

Echo closed his book loudly before she placed it behind her and took the gift instead. He cocked one of his brows, whereupon she only shrugged her shoulders again.

"I thought you wanted to know what’s inside of it?" she asked.

"Yeah but there’s no reason for shutting the book like that."

Echo’s facial expression didn’t change and she said nothing either. He wanted to figure out why she was behaving this way, but he wasn’t so sure if he ever would. Bellamy never came across someone who acted the way she did, so it was a whole new experience for him too, and _that_ said something.

"Anyway," Echo said while placing the present in his lap. "You can open it now or later. _I_ know what’s inside of it and I’m pretty sure that I know the reaction you’ll have by seeing it. No, I didn’t buy it. I actually had it with me since the beginning of the show. As I said, I thought you would like it from what I know about you and I don’t need or want it."

"So what you’re saying is that you’re giving me something you don’t like or want?" Bellamy questioned with suspicion on his face.

Echo laughed in response and shrugged her shoulders. "Do you mind?"

Bellamy snorted. "I don’t know. It doesn’t sound that exciting to me. If you don’t like it, why would I?"

"I see what you’re wearing. Your wardrobe isn’t filled with a variety of clothes."

Now things were getting creepy.

"How do you know?" Bellamy asked irritated.

Echo just shrugged her shoulders again before she let her eyes sweep over him. This time, he didn’t mind so much since he was dressed, but the situation was still weird.

"Bellamy. This is the sixth week and I see you on a daily basis. You’re either wearing sweatpants and tight t-shirts in different colors, or cargo pants and button-up shirts. Don’t make me start with your jackets. So, open the present: now or later."

Bellamy sighed but nodded slowly. He didn’t care much about what he was wearing. As long as he was comfortable, he would wear whatever he wanted and yes, also in various colors.

"Alright," he started as he turned to face her. "Thank you. I’ll open it when you’re gone."

He got up and walked over to the table next to the door and placed her gift onto it. He couldn’t figure out what was inside of it, but if she said he would like it, he would believe her. To be honest, he had no idea why he trusted her like this, but each one of them in the group needed to change their behavior towards one another. He and Finn had already talked things out and he wanted to do the same with everyone he had previously had “issues” with.

So yes, he would try to get to know Echo better and that was what he planned on doing now.

"Do I get to know some things about you and your life or?" Bellamy asked while he got under the blanket and leaned his spine against the wall.

Echo shrugged her shoulders again and it started getting on his nerves. It felt like she didn’t care about what was happening right now, yet she was the one who came to visit him and not any of his close friends. Not Murphy, not Miller… not _Clarke_. Perhaps, they wanted to come see him later today, in the evening maybe, and that was totally fine by him. He had no problem with it, he really didn’t, but Echo’s behavior still confused him… a lot.

"What do you want to know?" she asked him in response.

"I don’t know. Just tell me something about you in general. All I know is that your name is Echo and that you hate communicating with people."

Echo laughed for the first time she came to visit him today and for some reason, it made him smile. If he was already able to make her laugh, then she would open up to him, too.

"Alright… let me see," the girl started while looking up to the ceiling for a few seconds. Bellamy just watched her and waited for her to say something, which happened as soon as she fixed her gaze on him again. "I don’t think you know this yet, so: I’m twenty-three years old and I’m from Detroit. I’m working as a detective there. I wouldn’t say that it’s the best job on earth, but I can live with it. I like it, maybe because it’s one of the only things I’m good at."

Bellamy listened to every word she said. Even though Echo didn’t seem to be an extroverted person, it felt like she seriously wanted him to pay attention, especially because she kept looking at him the whole time she was talking.

For the first time, he wasn’t uncomfortable around her.

"Remember when there was the challenge about finishing sentences?" Bellamy nodded. "My sister described me as loyal, cold, and hostile. It’s the truth."

"Any reason for that?" Bellamy questioned while tilting his head to the side, smiling a little.

Echo shrugged her shoulders. "I’m not good at making friends and I always judge someone by the first impression I have of them. See, the way Monty, Clarke, and you were acting at the very beginning of this show didn’t sit well with me, so I’ve never tried to get into deep conversations with you guys ever again. Lexa, Luna, and Costia on the other hand, were nice to me, so I stayed with them and built a kind of friendship, even though I wouldn’t say that you can actually become real friends here."

"I wouldn’t say that." Bellamy replied with one raised eyebrow.

"Oh please… only because you’re friends with some of the others now, doesn’t mean you’re going to be forever. Remember that not everyone lives close to each other, so how is it going to work? With jobs on their side, family… I’m not saying it’s impossible, but you should be realistic."

Bellamy sighed. He knew that it would be hard to keep the group of friends he had here considering that they didn’t all live in the same state. Clarke, Octavia, and him were the only ones from New York, while everyone else was living in cities like Boston, Nashville, Chicago, Cleveland… It would be difficult to keep up their friendships, especially because they’ll have been around each other for ten weeks by the time they’ll have to say goodbye. However, a good and healthy friendship was based on trust and respect, which means that the chances were high that they would still be friends after the show would come to an end.

"Have you thought about it from a different point of view?" Bellamy asked Echo who frowned at the words. "Well, look. You’ve only been close to some people: Costia, Lexa, and Luna, right? Maybe you wouldn’t miss them after the show ends because you haven’t built a _real_ friendship with them. For you, it’s just spending time with people you have to and have similar interests with, but you haven’t tried to get _real_ close to them; a best friends type of close."

Echo stayed silent for a good minute and just kept her eyes on Bellamy. He wasn’t sure if he was explaining it well enough for her to understand, but he wanted to make sure that she knew where he planned on going with this conversation. Perhaps it was too deep for her, but he had hope that this talk would change her opinion on each one of the participants.

"Okay, I see where you’re coming from, Bellamy, but you can’t tell me that you actually believe that you’re going to be friends with… for example, Jasper, forever? Have you seen how childish his behavior is? How can _you_ be friends with _him_?"

"Wait, what?" Bellamy started, shaking his head and laughing at the same time. "If you came here to shit on my friends, then there’s the door." he uttered while pointing to the door of his hospital room.

Echo shook her head. "That’s not why I’m here. You wanted to know stuff about me and I told you that I’m not very extroverted. I’m not able to build friendships that last forever, so I automatically think that such friendships don’t exist. I’m sorry if I said something wrong."

"Yeah but that still doesn’t give you the right to shit on Jasper," He shook his head. "Listen, I really have no idea what your intention of coming here was, but I just want to help you understand that you need to open up. It doesn’t matter if you want to make friends, which actually isn’t why we’re here, or if you only want to find your perfect match; _that’s_ why we’re here. The friendships are just a bonus. But you and me we both know that it’s better for everyone if we try to be nice to each other and stop creating drama after drama in the house. I’m pretty sure there was a fight again while I was all alone here."

Echo groaned which caused Bellamy to sigh slightly. He could talk for hours and try to make her understand how things should go from now on so that they could focus on the actual game, but she wouldn’t listen to him. At this point, he would be very surprised if she tried to change her mind and be open to new relationships.

"Alright," she started. "Why don’t you help me then? Apparently you are a pro at building friendships."

Bellamy laughed and shook his head at the same time. "Believe me, it depends on the other person too, but if you want me to guide you a bit, sure, why not?"

"Sounds great." Echo replied with a light smile on her face. "Does this mean we’re going to be friends, too?"

Bellamy wasn’t so sure if she was serious about her question, but for the sake of this game, he would be as nice as possible and try to actually build a friendship with everyone in the house. He was certain that most of them wouldn’t last forever and that some of them wouldn’t end up with a future together, but this game was important to him. Not only the money, even though Octavia and him could really use it, but he wanted to find love, too. That wasn’t ever the main reason why he decided to attend this show, but within the past weeks, it definitely changed. He didn’t want this only for himself, but for everyone.

"Yep, we can try to be as long as you promise me to stay out of unnecessary drama and obviously aren’t the person who causes it."

"Cool. I can finally say I’m friends with the fan favorite." Echo said, grinning.

"Oh, fuck off," he replied with a smirk on his face. "How do you know if you’re participating and are at the house yourself right now, huh? Explain."

Echo shrugged her shoulders. "That doesn’t mean anything. I’m pretty sure each one of the viewers is going to love you as soon as the show airs."

Bellamy tilted his head to the side and frowned a little. Sometimes he forgot that they were currently just filming and that it wasn’t live. On one hand, that was positive since a lot of stuff could still get cut out, but then again, live would be funnier, not only for the viewers but also for the participants.

"We’ll see about that as soon as it airs on TV. I’m actually thinking of not watching it myself. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be embarrassing."

"Why would it?" Echo asked while laughing a little. "Don’t you support the things you’re doing here? Or would it be because your parents would see the way you’re behaving?"

The minute the girl across from him said that, the grin on his lips faded away. He knew that Echo wasn’t aware of what happened in his past or anything about his background. There was no reason for him to be offended by her bringing up his parents, but it still bothered him enough to make his jaw clench in anger.

Apparently, Echo noticed since she blinked a few times and shook her head slightly.

"Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that… too personal?"

"Yeah, and I don’t want to talk about it either so… can we just not?"

Echo nodded but didn’t add anything. Bellamy wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but he knew that he wouldn’t tell her about his past. Ever. They weren’t that close to each other yet and he was pretty sure that they wouldn’t be at the end of the tenth week either. Therefore, there was no way he would open up to her and tell her about his family and life story. It surprised him enough that he was able to speak about it with Miller, Raven, and the rest of _La Familia_ so early on.

To be honest, he missed the times before his accident. It was only Monday and, yes, he would leave here tomorrow, but he still felt like a lot of things had changed. He just wanted everything to return to the old state again and hopefully that would be possible with everyone getting together and trying to make the best out of this Dating Show.

Bellamy placed his hands on his forehead and massaged it with his fingers. His headache was coming back and there was no way that he wanted to be awake when the pain would really hit him again. Medication and sleep, that was what he needed right now.

"Whatever… I appreciate that you came here, Echo, I do, but I really need to take a nap right now. I feel the headache coming back and it’s going to hit me hard." He explained while taking his hands off his forehead.

Echo frowned a little before her expression turned more into worry than confusion. She nodded slightly then got up from the bed, only to walk closer to where he was sitting, leaned against the wall at the head of the hospital bed.

"Hey…" she placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "You’re focusing way too much on this stupid game anyway. You’re in the hospital, take care of yourself and make sure to get enough energy so you can get back on track to find your perfect match, alright?"

Bellamy snorted and shook his head a bit before he sighed. "Yeah… yeah, okay."

"Good. If you need anything, the doctor is there you know that, right?"

"I hate doctors," Echo laughed which caused him to turn his head towards her. "Before you go… please tell me how many beams you guys got at the MC."

"Seven."

"Seven!?"

Echo nodded. "Yeah, Monty and Raven were working on a strategy all weekend and it seems like what they’re doing is working out. We’re getting better. Now we only have to find the other four beams that were wrong, and then we have it."

"Thank God." Bellamy said while letting out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been able to attend the matching ceremony but hearing that his teammates had been able to get seven beams made him proud. They were so close to the end of this game, but also close to cracking all the matches and that was all that mattered.

"Okay," Echo muttered as she squeezed his shoulder one more time before letting go and pointing to the present on the table. "Don’t forget about that and take your medicine before going to sleep. I’m not sure if someone else is going to visit you; I only asked Aryana if I could see you for an hour. The driver that brought me here should be back by now so… see you tomorrow and hopefully your headache will be gone by then."

Bellamy nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks, though. Will do so, by the way." With that, Echo made her way out of his hospital room and closed the door quietly behind her.

He had to admit that her visit wasn’t as bad as he thought the minute he saw her standing in front of the door. He was glad that they had been able to sort things out with her. It was for the best of everyone and he could only hope that the rest of the group would be mature enough to let go of grudges and work things out. The fact that they were able to get seven beams only proved to him that they worked better together as a team, without drama. That was all he wanted for himself and the rest of the group.

However, before thinking any further on the matter, he really had to take a nap, so he grabbed the bottle of water that was placed next to him and took the medicine before he got up and made his way to the bathroom again before he would let himself take a big nap he well deserved.

# # # # # # # # # # 

6.30 pm. 

Clarke held the door open for the camera team as they stepped out of the elevator. She was surprisingly comfortable around them, even with them knowing about the stuffed animal she bought for Bellamy. They hadn’t said anything about it, perhaps because their job was to film everything and not weasel their way into the business of the attendants, but it was still quite confusing that they continued to keep their mouth shut about it.

Maybe she shouldn’t mind.

"So his room is 313. I don’t know if he’s asleep right now or not, but I bet he’s going…" she trailed off and stopped walking down the hallway when she saw someone walking out of his room. She narrowed her eyes a bit to focus her vision on who it was, but as soon as she recognized the person, she blinked a few times before shaking her head. "Echo?"

Said person walked towards her with a grin on her lips and if Clarke was being honest, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what the girl had been doing in there.

After what happened in the waiting room the day Bellamy was hospitalized, Echo was the last person she expected to visit him. It irritated her that she was at the hospital because Aryana hadn’t said anything about anyone driving to the hospital before her, but knowing Echo, she might have told the host to not tell anyone about her visit.

Clarke wanted to throw up.

"Hello to you and the camera team, too. Here to see Bellamy?" Echo asked her as soon as she stood in front of Clarke.

The blonde shook her head in confusion, but she knew she had to answer, so she did.

"What else would I be doing here?"

Echo laughed. "Relax, I was only visiting him and personally telling him to get well soon. Is that a problem for you?"

"Is that a problem for me?" Clarke questioned while tilting her head to the side. "Weren’t you the one who made fun of me for worrying about him the day Finn pushed him against the stake?"

"Yes, but people change, Clarke. I feel terrible for what happened, so I came to see him, just like you’re doing now. As far as I know, you aren’t the only one who is allowed to visit him."

Clarke raised her eyebrows and pulled her head back a little. This was really happening. Echo asked Aryana if she could go to the hospital to see how Bellamy was doing. However, Clarke didn’t believe a word she said. Echo came here for a reason and whatever she had planned, Clarke would find out. She had no idea how, but she would try her best to get reveal the girl’s real intentions with visiting Bellamy.

"Whatever… hopefully you have a nice ride back to the house." the blonde said before she motioned the camera team to follow her to room 313 as she passed Echo.

Still, she had to stop walking when Echo decided to shout something after her.

"Nice to know that you care so little about his health that you invite the camera team!"

Clarke shook her head in disbelief. This girl really thought she knew everything.

"Sorry," she said as she turned around to face Echo again. "Maybe you should get your facts straight first. You would know that he talked to Aryana about it and he’s fine with cameras around him now. Try harder next time."

Echo laughed and nodded. "Alright, Clarke. Just know that I’m going to be around you more often now since Bellamy and I are friends. See you at the mansion." She turned around and stepped into the elevator, leaving a much more irritated Clarke behind, the stuffed animal still under her arm.

She had no idea what Echo meant with her and Bellamy being friends now. Was she being serious about it or did she only want to make her mad? Clarke really had no clue, but she would ask Bellamy about it as soon as she had the chance.

The blonde exhaled one time before she turned around and smiled at the camera team. They returned it and followed her as she made her way to room 313.

Clarke knocked on the door so that Bellamy would know that someone was walking in. She waited for a few seconds before knocking again, but just like before, she didn’t receive an answer. The blonde frowned slightly while clearing her throat and turned around to face the camera team once again.

"Mind if I go in first so that I can see what is going on?" she asked with a soft smile on her face.

One of the men nodded which she took as a sign for her to walk inside without them first. She turned to the door again, tightened the grip of the dolphin underneath her arm, and made sure that her bag filled with snacks wouldn’t fall off her shoulder.

Clarke started to feel a bit nervous now that she stood in front of his hospital room with all the things she had bought. Maybe he wouldn’t like the stuffed animal and laugh at her because she got him one, tell her that he wasn’t a child anymore and that she could keep it to herself. Perhaps, he didn’t want her to come and was tired for the day. It made her feel sick to think of his reaction being more negative than positive, and for a brief moment, she thought that she should just turn around and walk back to the mansion. Yet she wanted to visit Bellamy, especially after they had gotten seven beams yesterday and… God, she just missed him. She wanted to talk to him again, to take in his smell.

She _needed_ to be close to him again, so she opened the door with her right hand as slowly and quietly as possible, just in case he was sleeping.

As it turned out, he wasn’t in his room at all.

When Clarke stepped inside and closed the door behind her again, she instinctively swept her eyes around the room, but Bellamy was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that caught her eye was a gift placed on the table right next to the door. She frowned but walked towards his bed and placed the dolphin and her bag on it first.

Afterwards, she made her way to the table and pushed the present around on the table to get a sense of what was inside; She didn’t want to open it without Bellamy’s permission. However, she couldn’t deny that she was a bit curious about what it was and who gave it to him.

Well… she could actually imagine who had.

Echo.

Clarke sighed and shook her head by the thought of her walking into this room and visiting Bellamy, especially after everything she had said about him before and the fact that she had never talked to him. It was strange and she couldn’t believe that she had been here, now considering each other “friends”.

But there was no time for her to keep thinking about it since the sound of a toilet flushing caught her ear.

She spun around and faced the still closed bathroom door. She should’ve known that he was only in there and not lost in the hospital or having a conversation with the doctor in her office.

Clarke placed her hands on the table behind her and leaned against it as Bellamy entered his room again, running his fingers through his curls. He closed the door behind him before he turned to face her, startled.

"Dammit, Griffin. You shouldn’t scare an injured man.” he said while slowly walking towards her. She would’ve taken him seriously if he didn’t have a smug smirk on his lips.

She just shook her head but met him halfway and tilted her head to the side. "I’m not sorry."

"Of course you’re not."

Clarke smiled softly before she lifted her chin up so she was able to look him in the eyes. Although this happened many, many times before, she was just starting to notice how the feelings she had for him were rushing through her body when he looked down at her and held eye contact.

She wasn’t sure what to do next: if she should kiss him, or just hug him instead. She really had no idea but in the end it wasn’t her decision anyway because Bellamy had already took the initiative and leaned down to place a kiss on her lips. It might have been a soft and brief one, but she knew that it was only because of the current situation, so she returned it.

"I don’t wanna ruin the… mood but the camera team is waiting outside and-"

Clarke couldn’t finish her sentence. Bellamy’s attention was now on the stuff she had brought and placed on his bed. Instead of frowning or showing irritation on his face, he smiled.

"Who got me this?" he asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice as he made his way towards the bed.

In response, she chuckled lightly and followed him before stopping right in front of the bed, confused by her own reaction.

"I did."

Bellamy laughed a bit and turned his face to her while sitting down on his bed and placing the grey dolphin in his lap. "I thought so."

"Do you like it?" She was still unsure about his reaction and if he liked it, but the way he smiled at her only confirmed that it was the other way around.

"If I like it?" He shook his head. "It’s cute, though. I mean… I’ve never been the type of person who loves stuffed animals, but yeah… I like it. And since it’s from you only makes it more likeable."

That made her blush.

"…How are you?" _Change of topic. Perfect._

Or not.

"I love it, Clarke." Bellamy repeated and placed the dolphin behind him before he wrapped his right arm around the small of her back and pulled her closer to him so that she was now standing between his legs. She blinked a few times and looked down at him, since she was now standing taller than him, and parted her lips to say something, but he just shook his head. "Thank you, seriously. You’re… really taking care of me even though you know I hate it. I’m going to thank you for this in a million ways. I hope you know that?"

Clarke wanted him to stop, for several reasons. First, because he was too adorable for her to handle and she couldn’t start showering his face with kisses when the camera team was waiting outside for her permission to come in. Besides, she couldn’t figure out if he was returning her feelings for him or if it was just a friendship for him. Yes, she could ask him, but she really didn’t want to, not if the answer she most likely would receive wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

But instead of focusing on her thoughts, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Okay… I’m glad you love it, but I don’t want you to thank me for it. I did it because I miss you and I think you should have something that reminds you of me."

"Griffin," He said grinning, "I would never forget you, just so you know. You’re too special for that."

_"You’re not in the first and not in the second," she said while pushing some curls away from his forehead. "Nope, you’re special."_

_"I’m special?" Bellamy repeated with a smug smirk on his lips._

Great. Obviously, she thought of that moment now. She had been stupid, listing everyone that could be a potential match when she was spending her time with her real match right then. It didn’t seem like Bellamy thought he was her perfect match then, so best believe he wasn’t thinking so now.

She hated this, all of it: her feelings, this show. It was only a matter of time before she would have another breakdown because of everything she had to cope with. Yet right now she had to make sure that Bellamy believed that she was fine, that nothing bad was running through her mind.

"I guess it’s mutual then? Because I already told you that you’re special and my word still stands."

"Good,” Bellamy replied with a smile on his lips. "Now, kiss me and after that you can tell me what is in that bag you brought with you and if you’re staying for the night again. I’m lonely and I miss your scent."

Clarke couldn’t help but laugh. She nodded slowly before she let go of his neck and cupped his chin in her hand instead. She leaned down and collided their lips together, keeping the kiss as slow and soft as possible. Bellamy returned it in the same way and she felt like she was on a cloud. She missed kissing him whenever she could and never wanted to stop being close to him. That’s why she was so glad he was leaving the hospital tomorrow because she really couldn’t take it anymore.

Bellamy slowly got up from the bed but didn’t break the kiss. Clarke had to tilt her chin up to be able to keep her lips moving against his and let go of his chin since he decided that it was his time to lead. He cupped her face in his hands and tilted his head to the side so that he was able to deepen the kiss, but before she could do the same, the knock on the door separated them.

He smiled at her and gave her a quick peck on the lips before he walked over to the door and opened it.

That was the end of their privacy, even if only for a short amount of time. The camera team filmed them for a while, mostly consisting of Clarke telling Bellamy how things went at the matching ceremony, but he stopped her and said that Echo had already told him. It slightly irritated her, but she should’ve known before. Echo had visited him before she arrived, so that only made sense. As if she would come to see Bellamy and not tell him about the matching ceremony.

After, she showed him all the snacks she had bought for their evening together, from gummy bears to various kind of chips, to cookies and ice cream. Bellamy had teased her about it, commenting that she only wanted to make him gain weight, whereupon she only laughed. She assured him that she would use the training room with him in the following week since she was sure that he wasn’t allowed to exercise just yet.

The camera team left them alone as soon as it started getting dark. They had all the footage they needed, including a kiss Bellamy and Clarke share, so they made their way back to the mansion, telling Clarke that she would have to be back at the house before midnight. An uber would be waiting for her outside of the hospital and she thanked them for letting her know.

But even after that, not much happened.

Bellamy and Clarke just spent their time in his bed, “watching” a random movie that was playing on TV, but they weren’t paying it much attention. Instead, they shared a bunch of kisses and ate way too much to the point that Clarke thought she would have to roll down into the elevator and the uber. Bellamy just laughed at that and told her that he would carry her downstairs if needed. His response only caused her to give him another few kisses on his lips, which turned into a brief make out session. Even then, it was rather slow and passionate, than wild and hungry.

It took both of them a while to say goodbye when midnight arrived and Clarke had to return to the mansion. She really missed spending time with him but she knew that she would see him in a few hours again and Bellamy did too, so when she stepped out of his hospital room and closed the door behind her, she could only smile and wait for the next day to come.

She finally wanted to be back together with everyone in the house, focus on getting a million dollars and maybe, just maybe, her wish would come true and she would leave the show with not only money, but love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual comments and kudos are appreciated! 
> 
> Don't forget to vote on Monday (BFWA) and like I said next Friday comes a new update!  
> For those who want to see how the dolphin looks like: https://twitter.com/grjffinsblake/status/1066064489471246337
> 
> Much love! xo


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, I'm glad you found your way back to this fic and chapter 25! 
> 
> Before letting you guys read this one I wanted to thank each one of you once again for voting for me in BFWA! I got nominated for round 2 (the voting is already over) but I can't believe that I'm actually under the nominees with some many great fics and others. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, voting for me as an author and this fic! 
> 
> Now, enjoy!

Week 6, Day 33 – Tuesday. Los Angeles. 1 pm.

Opening the door with one hand free wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but Bellamy still managed to pull it open, even with the grey dolphin Clarke gave him hooked under his arm.

He was glad to be discharged from the hospital and was now able to focus on the show, hopefully without any unnecessary drama or injuries in between.

Bellamy entered the mansion and closed the door behind him with his foot. As he faced forward again, he startled yet again when he saw the whole group standing in front of the couch and smiling at him. Emori, Sasha, Raven, and Harper had party whistlers between their lips while Harper and Maya were holding up two balloons. It surprised him even more because Octavia was there too, holding a cake in her hands just like Clarke was next to her. Aryana stood next to them and was grinning while the rest of the group cheered and clapped their hands.

"You guys are fucking idiots." Bellamy said with a smile on his face.

"It’s what you deserve, dad!" Jasper shouted in response.

Bellamy shook his head but walked down the three steps that separated the entrance of the mansion and the living area. He first made his way to Aryana, who smiled even wider now, nodding slowly.

"Feel good enough to win this?" she asked him, whereupon he snorted.

"Is that a question I need to answer?" The host lifted an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her breasts. "I am, yeah. I hope everyone else is ready too because I’m not going to let anyone take that money from me." Bellamy joked.

Aryana laughed and patted his shoulder before turning around and facing everyone else.

"Bellamy might be out of the hospital, but that doesn’t mean that his headache is gone. Don’t get on his nerves and prepare yourselves for the challenge tomorrow instead. You guys had seven beams on Sunday and I want to see more this week. So work on it! See you tomorrow!"

Bellamy stepped aside when the host made her way out of the mansion, advising the camera team to not bug him either. He wasn’t so sure if that was more of a blessing or a curse, but there were more important things to worry about.

He faced his friends again and started shaking his head slightly while a smirk made its way on his face. There had been no reason for them to exaggerate his returning that much, baking him a cake and purchasing balloons. This group was extra and he wouldn’t deny that it was nice of them to be so excited for him to be back.

Yet, one of them was even more extra.

"Dude, I never thought that you would like stuffed animals." Miller stated, grinning while walking towards him and giving him a half-hug. Bellamy returned it but swept his eyes over to Clarke who just shook her head as a pink flush took over her cheeks. He couldn’t help but smile a little.

"You’re not the only one," Bellamy replied and let go of his friend. "But it’s nice and reminds me of an important person in my life, so I’ll keep it."

He looked at Clarke once again. She narrowed her eyes at his response, which he thought was actually adorable. She couldn’t be mad with him and the more she pretended she was, the cuter it became.

"That person is lucky to have you," Octavia uttered and made her way towards him as well. "But now bring all your stuff upstairs and come back; we want to eat cake and update you on all the new developments."

Bellamy laughed and nodded. "Alright, give me like ten minutes and I’ll be downstairs, yeah?"

"Take your time, gorgeous."

Everyone, including Bellamy, spun their heads around and faced Echo. The girl grinned wickedly but as soon as she noticed everyone’s eyes on her, she quickly turned it into an innocent smile. Bellamy was pretty sure that it was meant to be provocative, but he just ignored it and smiled back for a brief moment.

"Thanks."

With that, he passed his friends and walked to the laundry room at the first floor so he could throw his clothes into the washing machine.

It was still weird that Echo tried to be nice to him, and hopefully to everyone else as well, but it was necessary for them to all get along. Without having a good relationship with each one of the participants in the house, they could forget about the show and end it now because they wouldn’t be able to win this game without getting along. Still, she didn’t have to call him _gorgeous_.

Awkward.

Bellamy placed the dolphin on the washing machine and just by looking at it, he had to smile again. Yeah, he had never been a big fan of those stuffed animals, but seriously, Clarke made the right choice by picking a dolphin over a monkey or a bear. She probably had no idea that dolphins were part of Greek mythology. They were the animals of the goddess Demeter. He was pretty sure that she only picked it because it was the cutest and, hypothetically, matched his personality the best, since she thought he was adorable. However, it actually had a meaning and he couldn’t deny that he really liked it.

Perhaps, this would remind him of Clarke when he would be in Brooklyn again. She would always have a special place at home.

_Wait._

Bellamy frowned before he shook his head and teared his gaze away from the stuffed animal. Maybe he should take a nap instead of celebrating his departure from the hospital with the rest of the group.

He threw his clothes into the washing machine and turned it on, then he grabbed his bag and the dolphin before walking out of the laundry room.

Hopefully, his friends would understand that he wanted to go to sleep first before bringing him up to date with the most recent news in the house, including which matches were wrong on Sunday. It was important to him, and definitely to everyone else, that they find out the incorrect matches because they wouldn’t have time to do so later in the show. He was proud of what they achieved until now, but there were some things they still had to fix.

As soon as Bellamy got to the second floor, he made his way towards the very end of the hallway and with that, the bedroom he had been staying at until his accident. He pushed the door open and looked around and as far as he could see, everything was the same. He started smiling the moment he noticed Clarke sitting on their bed, a plate with cake on it in her hand and pictures placed in front of her.

"You should’ve stayed with the others, though." Bellamy said, walking towards the bed and her at the same time.

Clarke lifted her gaze from the pictures laid out in front of her and turned her head to the side, smiling at him.

"Yeah… but they didn’t want me to stay with them."

"Is that so?" He replied while placing his bag on the floor and sitting down across from her with the dolphin in his lap.

Clarke laughed slightly and shrugged her shoulders. "They already were annoyed by my behavior a few minutes ago: didn’t like that I wasn’t making a big scene because you’re back."

"I’m glad you didn’t do that," Bellamy admitted as he picked up one of the pictures. "And I’d prefer it if you welcomed me otherwise anyway."

Clarke’s eyes widened for a bit before she shook her head and bit her lip. Bellamy just smirked a little because, yes, she definitely understood what he was trying to say.

"Maybe you should’ve stayed at the hospital." She uttered.

"You would’ve visited me only to get my-"

"Bellamy, fuck off." Clarke replied before bringing the fork with a piece of cake to her lips. Instead of letting her eat the piece herself, he grabbed the fork and turned it around, consuming the bite. "God, you’re an asshole."

Bellamy grinned, proud of himself for being able to piss her off over such little things.

He turned his gaze to the picture in his hand and recognized it immediately. It was one they took on her birthday, where they were laying on the flamingo Monty and Miller blew up at the beginning of the day. Clarke’s birthday was the greatest thing that had happened so far and he wanted to go back to that point, where everyone was in a good mood, ready to face the game and give it their all.

"Hey," he said, lifting his head at the same time. Clarke raised hers and looked him in the eyes. He smiled softly. "I really missed you."

Clarke blinked a few times and nodded before she placed the plate on the bed next to her and leaned over, kissing him briefly.

"I missed you, too."

Bellamy kept smiling for a few seconds before he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again. He could feel her lip curl upwards, but she stopped smiling and returned the kiss just as slowly, with true passion. She tasted like sweet chocolate, his favorite flavor combined with his favorite person; the best one he knew.

Clarke slowly pulled away but kept being close to him. He could see how she licked her lips before biting them. It made him smile and he planned on placing his lips on hers again. However, the moment he leaned forward to do so, the door opened and the two of them pulled away from each other.

"Sorry…" Murphy said, grinning at the same time. "I didn’t want to interrupt your… whatever you were planning on doing."

Clarke waved him off, then took the plate again. This time, she ate the piece on her fork herself.

Bellamy raised his eyebrow at Murphy who laughed in response, then nodded.

"I just wanted to ask you when you’re coming down again. We’re waiting for you guys."

"I guessed so," Bellamy answered as he rose from the bed and placed the stuffed animal down on it. "But I wanna take a nap. You fine with that?"

He could see how Murphy swept his eyes back and forth between the two of them. Bellamy didn’t know what he was trying to put together because there really wasn’t anything to solve. Nevertheless, Murphy cleared his throat and pointed over his shoulder.

"I’ll tell the others that you need some sleep, huh. Don’t want to interrupt you guys by taking a nap, so."

"I never said that I was going to stay."

Bellamy turned his head around and looked at Clarke who was still eating her cake without lifting her head or looking at him or Murphy. He wasn’t so sure what he should think about her reply, but at the end of the day, he couldn’t force her to stay with him. Still, it was no secret that he wanted to sleep in a bed with her again and fall asleep with her in his arms.

Fuck.

Why was he starting to think about cheesy stuff when it only included Clarke?

"Bellamy!" He spun his head around and faced Murphy again. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Sorry… lost in thoughts."

"That never happens." Clarke uttered, clearly smiling at the same time by the sound of her voice.

"Shut up, Griffin."

"Make me."

Bellamy looked over his shoulder and raised one of his eyebrows, meeting Clarke’s gaze. The blonde just did the same while slowly putting another piece of cake in her mouth.

"God, just have sex already." Murphy muttered.

"We would if you weren’t here," Clarke replied but kept her eye contact with Bellamy. He wasn’t surprised to hear that from her, so all he could do was smirk down at her.

"You guys are sex monsters. Unbelievable."

Bellamy laughed and faced Murphy again. "Are you leaving now or what?"

His friend narrowed his eyes, then swept them over to Clarke. Murphy tilted his head to the side and smiled at her before he looked back at Bellamy and saluted him farewell. He did the same and followed Murphy with his eyes as he left the bedroom and he closed the door behind him.

"I just finished eating my cake." Bellamy turned around on his heels and faced Clarke, who leaned over to the nightstand and placed the empty plate on it.

"And what does that mean?" He asked with curiosity while laying down sideways on the bed, one foot placed on the mattress and his hand holding up his head so that he could still see Clarke.

The blonde sat down cross-legged and tilted her head to the side, smiling at him at the same time.

"That we’re not going to have sex now."

Bellamy laughed again and started shaking his leg a bit. "I’m not the one who said that to Murphy. I told him I wanted to take a nap, remember?"

"Yes," she replied and pushed all the pictures back together. "Just making sure that you didn’t get excited for no reason, you know?"

"Understood."

"Perfect."

Clarke rose up from the bed and placed the pictures on his nightstand. A wrinkle made its way between his brows, but by the sight of her nightstand, he understood. There were two water bottles on it, a plate, the flowers he had bought for her two weeks ago (they looked horrible already, but for some reason, Clarke didn’t seem to mind), and her sketchbook. It only made sense that she had to use his nightstand now, too.

"So?" Bellamy took his gaze of hers and fixed it on Clarke instead. "If you want to take a nap, get off the blanket."

He laughed and nodded. "Sorry," With that, he go up and waited for Clarke to pull the blanket away so they could get underneath it.

They laid down, Bellamy’s chest against Clarke’s spine, his left arm around her torso while his right arm was resting under her head. They were facing the door, for no particular reason, but Bellamy knew that as soon as someone would walk in while they were taking their nap, they would start gossiping about them.

Did he care?

Not really.

He just wanted to take his nap and luckily, he could with Clarke in his arms. A long time passed since they’d been able to sleep in a bed together and cuddle, so nothing would take him away from this moment.

All that mattered was having Clarke by his side and his well-deserved sleep.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 6, Day 34 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 12 pm.

"Alright, alright, alright." Aryana clapped her hands and started rubbing them together. "Time for your sixth challenge, ladies and gentlemen. Are you ready?"

Clarke, along with everyone else, started clapping, just like the host did some seconds ago. She had no idea what this challenge would be, but she knew that all of them were ready to give it their all. This time, they were hoping that Lexa or Costia would end up being one of the three people who could win it so that the rest of the group could vote them into the Truth Booth.

This week should be a reboot for them; it didn’t matter if it was already the sixth.

"Amazing. First of all, welcome back, Bellamy! I think we can all agree that we’ve missed you and best believe the viewers did, too."

"That’s not a secret!" Jasper shouted.

_ Interview _ _– Jasper Jordan, Cleveland, OH (22): His goggles are his trademark_

_"People might think we’re babies, but without Bellamy, we’ve… been messy and didn’t eat. Well, we didn’t or we just made pizza. Laundry? We don’t know what that is. Seriously, Bellamy keeps us going here, not only with the household, but also with the game. We want to win this and it’s good that he’s back."_

"Guys, stop saying these things. At the end of the day, you got seven beams without me." Bellamy replied.

"And _this_ is what we’re trying to top this week, aren’t we?" Aryana got everyone’s attention again, smiling a little before putting on her game face. "Today’s challenge is going to be different than the others. More… physical."

Clarke frowned.

More physical didn’t sound so positive, well, not the way the host had said it. The tone of her voice made her believe that it wouldn’t be as fun or nice as it sounded. There had to be something bad about it.

"The sixth challenge for you guys is called, “Conclave”."

_Conclave._

No idea what that was supposed to mean, but they found out right after Aryana revealed the name of it.

"What you need to know about Conclave is that there’s only one rule: be the last. We’re going to make groups: group red and group blue. Just like at the Matching Ceremony, it’s not going to be about girls and boys. No, from now on, it’s mixed. Do you want to know the groups first or how exactly the game works?"

Clarke turned her head over her shoulder and looked up to Wells who was standing behind her. She smiled at him, which he returned before she got to the point.

"Groups or information?"

Just as Wells parted her lips to give her an answer to her question, Lexa raised her voice.

"Information first! That’s more important."

Clarke shrugged her shoulders, lips still curled upward, and faced the host again. Aryana nodded and used her hand to signal them to fix their gaze on the big, red rope that was formed in a circle on the sand that split them from the host.

"Alright… like I said, the only real rule is be the last. Everything else you need to know is that you’re fighting against another person in the ring. The one who pushes the other out of the circle first wins, _but blindfolded_."

"Shouldn’t… be that hard, right?" Maya asked Clarke while leaning closer.

She just sighed in response but had a light smile on her lips. "Let’s just hope that it’s not."

Clarke remembered Maya saying that she wasn’t very sporty. She herself used to go to the gym twice a week in New York, but now she was here, she hadn’t been too active, which was bad considering what they had been eating until now. Yes, sometimes they made protein pancakes that someone brought with them, but she hadn’t exercised in the training room once.

God, after what she had eaten yesterday, she should really think about grabbing her work-out clothes and exercising for a few hours.

But first, challenge.

"Now listen! The group wins the challenge, not one person, which means at the end of the game, the group that was able to win in the ring more often is the winner. You then have to chose three people who are allowed to take a person of their choice on a date. Also… you need to pick someone as the group leader. He or she is going to fight as last person against the opposing team’s leader. If his or her team wins, that person gets an extra date for the night; a romantic dinner with the person of your choice."

Before Aryana could add anything else, the group started whistling in excitement. Clarke could only shake her head but if she was being truthful with herself, the idea of having a romantic dinner with Bellamy was too good to not try to win the challenge as the leader of her group.

But maybe being the head team member wouldn’t be good for her or her group. Again, she hadn’t been active in a long time and blindfolded? No, thank you.

"I have a question!" Sasha shouted a few meters away from her. Aryana nodded, motioning her to ask what she wanted to know. "Are we only allowed to chose people from our group or also from the other?"

The host smiled. "No, you can choose from both the red or blue team. It doesn’t matter which one you are in."

"Okay, thanks."

Since no one else had any questions besides Sasha, Aryana started calling out their names and told them to either stand on the left side or the right side. The ones on the left were the red group, while the blue group stood on the right. The _left_ included Bellamy, Echo, Zeke, Jackson, Sasha, Emori, Lexa, Miller, Costia and Jasper. Group _blue_ were formed by Clarke, Roan, Monty, Harper, Raven, Luna, Murphy, Maya, Finn, and Wells.

As soon as both groups stood on their sides, they were handed their blindfolds. Before they started the host called out the pairs.

"First pair that fights against each other is Zeke and Murphy. After that, it’s Sasha’s turn and she has to fight against Harper. Lexa versus Roan is the third pair. Jasper and Finn? You follow. When they finish, it’s Clarke against Echo, followed by Costia versus Maya. Miller fights against Wells. Emori and Raven fight for the last in the ring, just like Bellamy and Monty. Luna and Jackson could be the last pair, but that depends on who you choose as your leader. Remember, he or she fights last."

Clarke wanted to die.

Of course she had to fight Echo, against the one person she disliked most. Just by looking at her competitor, she knew that she was going to lose. The girl was much more fit than her and you could see that she exercised on a regular basis. Besides, they had to fight blindfolded; as if she could do that.

Fuck this shit. She hated this challenge already.

"Now, did you decide who your team captain is?" The host questioned.

By looking over her shoulder, Clarke could see how the red group started discussing quietly in a circle. She smiled a little, seeing how each one of them took the challenge seriously. Then she turned her face back to her team who was standing there and looking at each other until Raven raised her voice.

"Okay, who do we pick? Who can fight the best out of us?"

"I mean…," Miller cleared his throat before he continued. "Just from what I’m seeing appearance wise, I would say either Luna or Wells."

Clarke nodded slowly, sweeping her eyes over the two of them for a brief moment. She understood why Miller wanted to decide between one of them. They seemed to be strong enough for fighting against somebody from the red team and with a little bit of motivation, she could see them winning. Yet deep down, she wanted someone else to end up being the winner of this game and that was definitely not someone in her group.

"Same, I would say Wells, though. Sorry, Luna, but that body needs to be used." Raven said with a grin.

"Now that came out wrong, don’t you think?"

"Shut up, Finn. I didn’t mean that and I didn’t ask you to comment on it, either."

"Be nice, guys…" Monty murmured. "Anyway, think you can win this, Wells?"

Clarke faced said person who shrugged his shoulders slightly then scratched the back of his neck.

"I can definitely try my best for us to win this, yeah."

"Perfect!" Raven turned around to the host and so did everyone else. "We’ve chosen our team captain. It’s Wells."

Aryana’s facial expression showed Clarke that she had been surprised by them picking Wells as their leader. However, she covered it quickly with a smile on her lips and nodded.

"Wells is the captain for the blue team! What about you, reds?"

Clarke spun her head to the left side and started frowning when she noticed how they were all grinning. She had no idea what that meant, but hopefully she would be lucky enough to get the person she wished for as their leader since she wasn’t chosen, and for good reasons. Again, she could never beat Echo’s ass.

Lexa stepped forward and cleared her throat. "So actually, we had quite a lot of people that we could’ve picked as our leader, but we went with a little strategy of who we want to get into the Truth Booth."

"Um…" Maya begun, turning the blue team’s attention to her. "Why didn’t we do that?"

"Because you never want to listen and do everything on your own." Finn replied.

Raven smacked the back of his head in response and it seemed like she wanted to say something, by the way she parted her lips, but Aryana had already turned towards her and sent her a little glare which stopped her from doing so.

"Anyway… I think it’s unsurprising who we’ve chosen, but Wells is going to try beating Bellamy in the ring."

While the blue group was groaning because, yes, it was expected, Clarke was smiling like an idiot. Although she was pretty sure that Bellamy didn’t have any feelings for her, she knew that he only accepted being their team captain so that he could pick her for the romantic dinner. It only made sense. He had told her that he wanted to thank her for taking care of him and everything else she had done for him until now, and that was a perfect way of doing so, right?

There was nothing more behind it.

"Great. Then Bellamy and Wells, you’ll fight against each other as the last pair. Miller and Monty you’re fighting against each other instead. Like I said before, Zeke, Murphy, it’s your turn. Have one of your partners blindfold you and get into the ring!"

As soon as the host finished speaking, Roan veiled Zeke’s eyes with a red blindfold and Raven helped Murphy put his on. It took them much longer because Raven tried to tie it beautifully and Murphy told her she should just do it correctly, that would help. However, it wasn’t an argument between them; it was much different than that, almost like flirting.

Clarke narrowed her eyes at them.

_"Well… this show is harder than I thought and I’m still not sure who my match is. I get along with a lot of people and there might be a few of them who I could consider as my perfect match, but yeah."_

She quirked one of her eyebrows and watched how Raven was smiling and keeping her eyes on Murphy while Monty helped him step into the circle. Now she understood what Raven meant with her considering several people as her perfect match. Clarke wasn’t sure if what her friend was doing could be viewed as good or not. She knew that trying to find one’s perfect match wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but if Zeke had feelings for Raven already, it wouldn’t be nice towards him.

Whatever.

It wasn’t her business and not her issue (that didn’t keep her from making a mental note to talk to Raven about it as soon as they would have a minute alone together).

"Great! Now…" Aryana shouted. "Be the last!"

# # # # # # # # # # 

An hour later, Clarke found herself with sand not only in her shoes, but also in her hair and sports bra.

She knew that she would lose against Echo, so it wasn’t a surprise that she did. However, she wouldn’t let it kill her mood. Therefore, he result of the challenge was too good for that.  

The red group won, which was really better than her group winning. The three winners of the ring fights were Lexa, Raven, and Miller. It was the second time that the challenge turned out to be good for the whole group because Lexa really did what she had to do and won against Roan. In the end, she obviously chose Costia for her date to the Aquarium of the Pacific. The group wanted to get them into the Truth Booth badly and now that Lexa had been able to win the battle against Roan, they finally had hope again after the past two weeks.

What confused Clarke was that Raven didn’t pick Zeke as her date for the week, but Murphy. Sure, she had seen them interacting… even being flirtatious earlier, but she didn’t know that they were _this_ close. Murphy had Emori, Raven had been talking to Zeke for a while now, and it was weird that neither Murphy nor Raven had talked to her about what was going on between them yet. It couldn’t be that big of a secret since they were openly acting this way, but when she took a look at both Emori and Zeke’s faces, she had seen how irritated they were themselves. She had decided to not continue thinking about it and have a conversation with her friend later instead.

Then what threw her under the bus was something completely different.

While Clarke had expected that Lexa would choose Costia for her date, she was really confused when Miller called out Monty’s name as his date. She hadn’t been the only one who found that strange because, yes, they were great friends and had chemistry, she wouldn’t deny that, but it was still different than having a connection on a romantic level. It clearly irritated Monty himself, but he shrugged it off and said he was excited.

At the end of the day, they all seemed to be happy with the pairings, but Clarke was sure that no one was as happy as her. Since Bellamy had been the leader of the red group, he won the romantic dinner for himself and, obviously, chose her. She told herself not think about it in _any_ romantic way. He just picked her because… well, because they currently were whatever they were. It didn’t mean he had any feelings for her.

Still, she was looking forward to the end of the night, the Truth Booth, and her dinner with Bellamy on Friday. She hoped that they would get Lexa and Costia confirmed as a perfect match, encouraging everyone to keep trying their best for the game whilst working together.

# # # # # # # # # # 

3.45 pm

_ Camera Room _ _– Clarke and Raven_

Clarke sat down on the couch with a water bottle in her hand and threw her right leg over her left one. Meanwhile, Raven closed the door and turned to face her. The brunette cleared her throat and crossed her arms in front of her chest, whereupon Clarke just raised her eyebrow.

"What?"

"What? Well… maybe you should explain to me why we’re in the camera room? What is there to record?" Raven asked as she made her way to the couch and dropped herself on it, her arms still folded.

Clarke huffed and rose up before she took a few steps further to the camera and turned it on.

"Obviously because we have to tell the viewers how things are going for us. Actually…," she turned around and smiled at her friend. "For you."

"Me?"

Clarke nodded and turned back to the camera. As soon as it was turned on, she pressed record and walked backwards to the couch before she sat down again. She then turned her head to Raven, who was still looking a bit perplexed, and smiled at her. Raven rolled her eyes but exhaled one more time before she looked into the camera.

 _"I don’t know what she wants me to tell you guys, but we just had our challenge and it went surprisingly well._ "

 _"Okay. I gotta agree. We think Lexa and Costia are a match, so we’re hoping to get it confirmed tonight. But…,"_ Clarke started grinning while opening her water bottle, _"we should talk about our perfect matches. Shouldn’t we, Raven?"_

Said person spun her head towards her and blinked a few times. Clarke knew that Raven wanted to know where she was going with this, but she wasn’t stupid. She was smart enough to figure it out by herself and when she did, she started shaking her head and turned back to face the camera.

_"Y’all know it’s getting closer to the end of the season and if I’m being honest, I’m still conflicted about who’s my match."_

Clarke nodded slowly while watching Raven talk into the camera, but when she finished her sentence, she couldn’t stop herself from asking her _that_ question.

_"Yeah, Zeke or Murphy, who’s it?"_

Raven turned to look at her again and tilted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at Clarke. The blonde just smiled in response before taking a sip of her water. Raven groaned and fixed her gaze on the camera again.

_"It’s not as easy to find your perfect match as people might think, especially when you like two guys at the same time. Plus… it’s not like I don’t think a girl could actually be a possibility, too."_

_"Now that’s interesting."_

Raven just ignored her and smiled into the camera. _"And I’ll update you as soon as stuff develops. We don’t want to jump to conclusions, right?"_

Before Clarke could say anything, Raven rose up from the couch and stopped the recording. Clarke threw her hands in the air and leaned back against the cushion.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

Raven furrowed her brows and crossed her arms in front of her breasts again. "What kind of a question is that, Clarke? Why didn’t you just ask me about who I consider as a match instead of throwing me into this without permission?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"No…," Raven sighed and sat down next to her again. "I’m just… conflicted. I really like Zeke and he’s an adorable, nice guy. I know that… he makes me smile. And Murphy… he’s so funny? He makes me laugh so often and the past few days when you were occupied with worrying about your boyfriend, we got to talk and hang out together more than we ever have before. I genuinely feel good around both of them, so I wanna go on a date with each."

Clarke had no idea what she should say.

She hadn’t been in that situation herself, so she couldn’t talk about her own experience. However, she wanted to help her and be there for Raven, which meant she would try her best to make her decide on one of them.

"Alright, let me repeat… You think Zeke is the nice guy from next door who makes you feel good and what… safe?" Raven nodded. "Okay… and Murphy is the funny one, who could also be your best friend, that always cracks a joke. You don’t have to focus on how you ‘touch’ him or act around him when you do?" Raven nodded once again. "Brilliant, there you have your answer."

Clarke closed the lid of her water bottle and got up from the couch.

"Wait! What do you mean, ‘there you have your answer’? What are you trying to tell me!?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders then tilted her head to the side and smiled at her friend.

"That means… Murphy is your guy. If you don’t think about the way the two of you are behaving, especially when touching each other, then I’m pretty sure that he’s more of your match than Zeke. _But_ remember that he already has something going on with Emori and they’re going strong. You’re friends with Emori and _please_ talk to her first instead of just taking Murphy away from her, alright?"

Raven sighed and rose from her seat as well. She scratched the back of her neck while looking at Clarke and nodded slowly, showing the blonde that she really wanted to try things out with Murphy. It wasn’t what she wanted her to do, but at the end of the day this show was about finding your perfect match. If Raven genuinely believed that Murphy was hers, she had to talk about it with Emori before taking the next step in the right direction.

"Okay… yeah, you’re right," Raven said as she smiled, "Thank you, Clarkey. I appreciate you helping me and will keep you up to date, huh? Now go to your boyfriend and stop annoying me."

Clarke’s jaw dropped open for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes.

"He’s not my boyfriend."

"Yes he is." Raven replied while walking to the door, Clarke following her.

"No, he isn’t!"

"Not yet." Raven said, grinning.

"Oh, fuck off."

Her friend started laughing as they walked out of the camera room. Clarke switched off the light and rolled her eyes again, but this time she was smiling as well. She didn’t want to think too far into it yet since she wasn’t sure if Bellamy returned her feelings and she couldn’t imagine that he was. Still, the thought of him being _truly_ hers couldn’t stop her from enjoying Raven calling Bellamy her boyfriend.

Maybe she would have that someday.

# # # # # # # # # # 

7 pm.

It was one of these Wednesdays where the group knew that everyone voted for the same pair. No one questioned it and wasn’t surprised to see Lexa and Costia’s picture on the TV screen together.

People may think that they should’ve learned from their mistakes and to not celebrate a perfect match before it being confirmed, but everyone was so sure that it had to be it this time. Maybe they were delusional, but Lexa and Costia _really_ being a match would mean that what they were currently doing was correct. Monty and Raven’s strategy was working and that was all that mattered next to finding love. And clearly Lexa found hers; Costia did, too.

"Unsurprising?" Aryana asked.

"Totally. Since we’re working together, we’ve all voted for the same pair so we knew that they would be the one to get into the booth." Jackson replied.

The host laughed a little before she nodded and motioned for Lexa and Costia to make their way into the Truth Booth. "It’s time."

Everyone from the group got up from the couch and hugged the couple – yes, they had decided that there was no reason for them to not be a couple since feelings were involved and they both weren’t interested in anybody else – goodbye.

As soon as Lexa and Costia were gone, everyone sat down again. However, they were slightly confused and irritated when they noticed that Aryana was still standing next to the TV screen and smiled at them as if something else was about to happen.

And that was the truth.

"Maybe this week is really going to be a good one for you guys: Bellamy’s back, you were great at the challenge, and the match y’all wanted to get into the Truth Booth is currently making their way to it. But… why exactly are you here again?"

Bellamy furrowed his brows when the host finished her sentence.

What kind of a question was that? Why were they here? Shouldn’t she know that herself or was it a trick question? Rhetorical question? Bellamy had no idea, but like always, Jasper was the one who answered Aryana.

"We’re here to find love and get the smoney."

"Did you… did you say smoney?" Miller asked, shaking his head lightly.

Jasper just shrugged his shoulders at him before he turned back to the host who nodded slowly.

"Correct, Jasper. Now…"

Bellamy leaned back against the cushion and folded his arms in front of his chest, tilting his head to the side as he waited for Aryana to continue.

"If you give up the result, I’ll add 150,000 dollars to your prize." The host stated.

"Shut the fuck up…" Murphy murmured as he got up from the couch again and walked to the kitchen.

Bellamy just sighed and shook his head.

Now they had the chance to have another confirmed match through the Truth Booth after Lincoln and his sister, but if they would decide against taking the result, they could get more money overall, which also meant more money for each person.

"Alright…," he placed his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward, sweeping his eyes over to the rest of the group. "What do we do?"

"Take the money." Miller answered.

"Are you stupid? And then we don’t win the game at the end." Emori uttered.

"I agree with Miller, though. We know that-"

"But that still doesn’t give us the result, Murphy!?"

"Can you guys shut up…" Bellamy muttered, but no one listened to him. Instead, Murphy walked back to the couch and stopped in front of Emori, pointing his finger at her.

"I don’t care? Monty and Raven are the brains though, _pretty_ brains, so I trust and believe them if they say that Lexa and Costia are a match."

Now Emori rose up from her seat and shoved Murphy backwards.

"Thought about how Lexa and Costia feel right now!? They’re already in the Booth worrying what happens if they’re not a match, but now you wanna take the money without their permission? I believe they want to know the result!"

"Like I said, I don’t care!"

"Guys…," Bellamy tried again as he placed his hand on his forehead, rubbing it a bit. _Fucking headache._

"Leave them. They aren’t listening to you anyway." Monty said, whereupon Bellamy sighed and sat up correctly again.

"Well, maybe you should care because it’s not about what you want, but about what the whole group thinks we should do and we’re gonna include Lexa and Costia in this decision! Now sit your ass back down on the couch and stop being such an idiot!"

Emori was clearly tired of Murphy behaving like this, but if Bellamy was being honest, he knew that it wasn’t just that. He’d seen his friend flirting with Raven today and best believe he hadn’t been the only one who saw it. So if Emori did too, it would explain why she was so irritated.

Still, Murphy did what she had told him and sat down again, even if it was clear that he didn’t like the idea of taking the result instead of the money. Yet Emori was right. They should think everything through before jumping to a conclusion and luckily, Wells seemed to think so as well.

"Listen… as much as I want us to take the money, we can’t do that to Lexa and Costia. _Plus,_ what happens if we get to the last matching ceremony, they lock in as a match again, and two of the beams don’t light up? Then it would show us that we’ve made the wrong decision with them and we’ve lost the money _and_ the extra cash. I would pick the result."

"That’s true, but…," Clarke started and slid further to the front of the couch, “We’ve got seven beams last week and Lexa and Costia were sitting together. They’ve been a strong team right from the beginning; only once have they not sat together. At that MC, we only had two beams, never had we dropped that low again after that and Lexa and Costia picked each other every time. Come on, you can’t tell me that you don’t believe that they’re a match? They’re always together and other than Costia, I don’t think that Lexa is interested in anybody else or wants to start something with someone other than Costia."

Silence.

Clearly, everyone had different opinions on whether to take the cash or the result, as usual. It only made it much more complicated and Bellamy didn’t want to imagine the faces of the pair if they would come back inside and know that they had taken the money instead of the confirmation of them being a match… or not. It wasn’t the best situation, but there was only one way to handle this.

"Good. Two opinions against each other. Let’s just be democratic about it then. Who’s for the result? Lift your hand. Who’s against it? Just leave it down. Now."

Emori, Jackson, Luna, Monty, Maya, Wells, Harper, and Bellamy lifted their hands to show that they wanted to get the result instead of the money. For Bellamy, it was the right thing to do for all of them, but even if he did think so, it didn’t matter. Murphy, Echo, Raven, Miller, Roan, Sasha, Jasper, Finn, Zeke, and Clarke were for the money and because they were ten against eight, they won.

"Alright…," Bellamy muttered, "That’s it."

"We take the money." Finn said and smiled at Aryana.

"Are you sure?" The host asked again, sweeping her eyes over the whole group.

Although Bellamy could see that Monty wanted to say something by the way he parted his lips, he kept it to himself instead.

"That sounds like a yes," Aryana replied and turned to the TV. "Then no result but therefore, plus 150,000 dollars!"

Emori shook her head and got up. "Tell Lexa and Costia yourself about your stupid decision." With that, she walked out of the living area and made her way upstairs instead.

Bellamy sighed.

This didn’t go how they all wanted, but nevertheless, it was a democracy. The majority won and they had to accept that. Hopefully the pair coming from the Booth in a few minutes would understand that.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Half an hour passed since Clarke had decided to vote for receiving the extra money instead of the result. It was ridiculous that now when they had been sure to get a perfect match, the host dealt with money. To be honest, she didn’t care about that. She didn’t vote for the money for personal reasons. At the end of the day, she could always ask her mom for money if it came down to it, even if she hated doing so.

_She did it for the Blakes._

It was stupid of her for doing so, but she really hadn’t expected most of the people to vote for the money. She shouldn’t have done that, but she wouldn’t tell Bellamy nor Octavia that her decision was influenced by their well-being. They didn’t talk about it at all, but she knew that they weren’t living their best life, especially from what Bellamy told her about his past on the beach so many weeks ago. She could only imagine how it was, so she wanted them to get the money they deserved for being such great people.

Other than that, Lexa and Costia hadn’t been mad. They understood their reasons for taking cash and rejecting the confirmation of them being a perfect match or not. It was actually surprising that they took it so casually but that was only because they trusted Monty and Raven a lot and believed that the people they put together were matches.

After enough time passed, they all calmed down again and had dinner together before going to sleep. First they thought it was too early, but they had planned on sitting together the next day to figure out who were the four matches that were wrong at the previous matching ceremony.

The end of the week came closer and with that, the next ceremony. Clarke only wanted everything to work out and she had lots of other stuff on her agenda too: talking to Raven, Murphy, and Emori individually, maybe, just _maybe_ talking to Bellamy about what happened with Echo, and controlling her own feelings. 

But that wouldn’t be as easy as Clarke thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would you have done? Taken the money or the result? 
> 
> As usual, comments and kudos are appreciated! 
> 
> Much love and see you next Friday! xo


	26. Chapter 26

Week 6, Day 35 – Thursday. Los Angeles. 3 pm.

Bellamy rested his forehead on Clarke’s shoulder, his eyes closed and lips parted slightly. He wet them with his tongue from time to time when he wasn’t occupied quietly groaning against her fair skin. At the same time, he had his left palm placed on the headboard of their bed, right above Clarke’s head, while his right one was on the mattress, holding himself up.

He had no idea how long they had been at it, but time wasn’t important in that moment. All that mattered was Clarke’s skin against his and her moaning quietly next to his ear. It was a sound he never wanted to forget; one he’d kill to hear more often, exactly as it sounded right now: not too loud, just enough for him to know that she was enjoying this as much as he was, considering they were taking things slow. Maybe that was why he lost track of the time and focused on Clarke’s moans and the feeling of being close to her.

"Bellamy…"

There it was, the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his entire life. He didn’t want to exaggerate, but her saying his name like this, so simple, yet so loud and filled with raw emotion, it was so profound that it completely messed with his mind.

But he couldn’t respond to it, not with using just any word that came from his lips. So instead, he lifted his forehead off her shoulder and placed a soft kiss on it before he slightly lifted himself up so that his face was now right above hers. Unsurprisingly, Clarke had her eyes closed, but it didn’t matter. She was still beautiful in the way she was lying underneath him, her own lips parted when she wasn’t biting on her bottom one. Her cheeks were flushed pink, most likely because of the foreplay and not from the sex itself.

Bellamy smiled softly and hooked his left arm under her thigh so he could wrap it around his waist, never taking his gaze away from her face. Not a second later, he was greeted by her blue eyes. She blinked a couple of times before she looked him in the eyes and returned the soft smile.

"I-"

"Shhh," Bellamy let go of the headboard as well and placed his palm on her cheek instead, caressing it lightly with his thumb. "Don’t talk."

Clarke nodded softly and gently lifted her chin. It didn’t take him long to understand what she wanted from him, so he met her halfway, closing his eyes at the same time and placed his lips on hers. It wasn’t all too easy to kiss her while moving back and forth, sometimes thrusting deeper, faster, or harder inside of her to switch up the rhythm and angle ever so often. Mostly, he kept it slow and deep enough to make her feel good, but not too much that she’d cry out loudly and lose her voice by the time they were done.

Still, it was clear that she was close and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t himself. The feeling of her around him, underneath him, and just _that_ close to him was enough for him to reach his climax, her quiet moans and fingers in his hair only making it harder to hold on. It wouldn’t take him long to come and he could feel that it was the same for Clarke.

But it just shouldn’t happen yet. 

"Bella- Oh… my God," Bellamy pulled away, separating his lips from Clarke’s and turning his head to the door instead, seeing Sasha standing in the doorframe. "I’m so fucking sorry I swear I didn’t see anything." Sasha scrambled.

"Bellamy…" Clarke whimpered quietly, returning his attention to her and that was all they needed to make Sasha leave and close the door behind her. It was definitely embarrassing for her and obviously awkward for them as well, but Bellamy couldn’t care about Sasha walking in on them. They were covered with a blanket anyway and Clarke was the only person he could think about of now.

"Yeah."

Clarke just smiled softly before she turned his head a little, giving him better access to her neck. He immediately got the message. He leaned down and began leaving open-mouthed kisses, just as slowly and softly, yet undeniably intense as when he was diving in and out, back and forth, inside of her cunt. He wasn’t trying to give her a hickey, but he wanted her to enjoy the feeling of his lips against her skin. Her moans only got louder, showing him that it was working.

"I- I’m close." She breathed out quietly, sliding her fingers into his hair again and massaging his scalp. Bellamy groaned in response, placing a brief kiss on her neck before he lifted himself up again, looking down at her and holding eye contact.

"Okay." He whispered back, kissing her quickly, causing her to tighten the grip of her leg around his waist. His left palm returned back to the headboard. She smiled softly at him before she closed her eyes once again as he did what he had to do;

Making them both reach their high in unison.

# # # # # # # # # #

After a few minutes of silence, the bedroom only filled with Clarke trying to catch her breath, just like Bellamy, she turned her face around to take a look at him. He was still lying on his spine, eyes closed and his curls plastered to his forehead. The sight of him like this made her smile, but not only that; For a second, she forgot that she was in Los Angeles, participating in a Dating Show instead of being home in New York.

But that wasn’t even necessary. She already felt like home because everything she _really_ needed was right next to her.

Ugh.

She was a mess.

"Stop staring at me, Griffin."

Clarke blinked a couple of times before she turned on her stomach, making sure to take the blanket with her in case of someone else walking in on them, and held herself up on her elbows.

"I can’t. You’re handsome."

Bellamy laughed, then turned his head to face her. "I probably look horrible."

"No," Clarke shook her head. "You look good, but I don’t care about that anyway."

Bellamy’s lip curled upwards before he nodded slowly and looked back at the ceiling. Clarke didn’t mind that and scooted closer to him again, now laying her head on his chest.

"Alright," Bellamy said, clearly smiling by the sound of his voice, wrapping his arm around her. "You know that I have to throw the condom away and that Sasha wanted something from me, right?"

"Mhm."

Bellamy laughed again but started caressing her arm, relaxing her. It was only a matter of time before Clarke would fall asleep, not because she was exhausted or anything, it was just such a great moment right now that it was without any doubt that she would fall asleep if she closed her eyes.

"Princess… you’re such a fucking princess."

This time Clarke laughed lightly, shrugging her shoulders and not even bothering to look up at him.

"Don’t say it as if you hate it." She replied, placing her palm on his chest right next to her head.

"Never said that."

"Good."

Clarke blinked a few times before she smiled softly to herself and closed her eyes. In no way would she get up now and let him leave her all alone in this big king sized bed. Sasha could wait and ask him whatever she wanted later… or tomorrow. For Clarke, tomorrow sounded much better than later that day.

And apparently Bellamy had changed his mind as well since he fell asleep before Clarke, even though he had no intention of doing so. The only thing Clarke had to give up was spending the rest of the day in bed as well. Things needed to be done and she knew that it was important to get in contact with everyone else so they could discuss their continued strategy to win the game. 

Still, she had wished that they could’ve stayed in bed the whole day. They only had a few weeks left together and she wanted to spend as much time with his as possible.

# # # # # # # # # # 

8 pm.

"Guys," Clarke lifted her head from her plate and fixed her gaze on Wells instead. "Can we make new rooms or something? I feel like we should switch things up maybe? That way, we’re with different people than before?"

Clarke frowned a little and sat up correctly. It surprised her that Wells wanted to talk about this now while they were having dinner and after almost half of the week had passed already. However, she thought that what he proposed wasn’t as bad as some of the others believed. It would help them with getting to know each other better. It wasn’t a secret that there were people who still didn’t know which participant was their match, so it only made sense to her.

…And to the rest as well.

"I think it’s a good idea," Roan said as he placed his cutlery on his empty plate. "I mean, we said at the very beginning that we would switch things up sometimes and until now, people have only changed rooms because of drama."

Clarke nodded and rested her elbows on the table, holding her face in her hand.

"Agreed. Let’s just get this over with now and hope that we won’t change it again."

"Perfect," Luna smiled. "Any wishes?"

There were wishes, lots of them. It was hard for Clarke to keep up with who wanted to stay with who and which couple wanted to sleep together instead of being separated. There were also people who didn’t know who they should share a bed with. Meanwhile, it was easier for other people. It was a whole mess, like always, so someone had to get in between it all again, having to raise their voice so that everyone would shut up.

Surprisingly…

"Can you guys keep your mouth shut maybe!?" _Echo._ "It’s not going to help if everyone starts talking at the same time!"

It confused Clarke in a way that she couldn’t explain. She really wanted to think that Echo just wanted to prove that she could be nice, but then she remembered Monday evening when she came to visit Bellamy and met Echo first, walking out of his room. Even then she wasn’t acting nice, so it irritated her that she now tried to play the mediator.

"Alright…," Bellamy started while throwing his arm on the backrest of Clarke’s chair, "How about each one of us says the name of a person they would like to share a bed with. As soon as we have that, we can decide on who shares a room. That sound fair enough?"

"I mean, yeah," Murphy said before taking a sip of his drink, placing it on the table again as soon as he had drank enough. "But what if there’s someone everyone wants to sleep in a bed with?"

Jasper laughed. "It’s not hard to say no."

"Okay… true." Murphy agreed.

"If that’s all…" Clarke uttered and brought herself into the conversation while leaning back so that she could slightly lean against Bellamy’s arm. He didn’t seem to mind it, even letting his thumb run over her shoulder as she kept talking. "Who do you want to share a bed with, Emori?"

The brunette shook her head slowly while letting out a snicker. "Seriously? I don’t wanna share."

Clarke frowned for a second but she understood why Emori didn’t want to sleep in a bed with anyone. It seemed like what happened at the challenge and during the Truth Booth really separated her and Murphy. Clarke would be lying if she said that she liked it. What Raven and Murphy were doing wasn’t nice towards Emori and hopefully Raven would really talk to her first before taking the next big step and have sex with Murphy.

"That’s okay. I mean there are three beds in each room, so some should be free anyways." Clarke told her friend with a smile on her face. Emori nodded thankfully and then turned back to eating the rest of her mashed potatoes.

"Who’s next?"

After a while and with a few complications, they had figured out the best way to rearrange the rooms so they were with new people and satisfied with the results. Clarke stayed in the room she had been in for the past few weeks, together with Bellamy, of course. They shared the room with Wells, who had the bed for himself, and with Luna who shared one with… _Echo._

Clarke hated it. She truly did and couldn’t understand why Luna actually chose her. Fine, it made sense because they had done a lot of things together before Clarke befriended Luna, but now she had to deal with Echo everywhere. It was already bad enough that she was part of this Dating Show, but now Clarke really had to share a room with her as well.

It was her worst nightmare.

The room across from them was occupied by Jasper and Maya, Finn and Jackson, Sasha and Emori. Clarke thought that was best for Emori. She didn’t want her to stay alone without anybody.

On the right side of the second floor, Murphy and Raven stayed in a room with Zeke. When they made the arrangement, Clarke really had to keep her shit together so she wouldn’t burst out in laughter. Raven was involved in a love triangle and she had to sleep in a room with the two guys she was interested in.

It was hilarious.

The last room was occupied by Lexa and Costia who shared one bed, Miller and Roan, and surprising, Monty and Harper. Clarke hadn’t seen that coming at all, especially with Sasha deciding to stay with Emori rather than with Monty. She knew that Sasha had developed feelings for him already, but something seemed to have happened between them, otherwise they would have decided to sleep in a bed, and room, together. 

At the end of the day, everyone packed their things and moved around to their new rooms. Nothing else happened after that and Clarke was glad because all she wanted to do was go to sleep without Echo interrupting by making conversation with Bellamy. Luckily, Echo went to take a shower and before she came back, Bellamy had already been asleep. Clarke was grinning like an idiot when she saw Echo’s reaction to him sleeping, but stopped as soon as Luna sent her a questionable look.

Still, it only made Clarke sleep better knowing that Bellamy had picked her for the romantic dinner instead of Echo. It was like the cherry on top of the cake.

In that moment, she couldn’t have been happier.

If she only knew that wouldn’t be for long.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 6, Day 36 – Friday. Los Angeles. 7.20 pm.

Clarke was standing in front of the mirror in the closet of the bedroom she slept in. She had already taken her shower and applied her makeup while her hair was still under the towel she wore on top of her head. Currently, she wasn’t wearing anything else other than a black pair of nice underwear and her slippers. She had no clue what she should wear for the evening and for good reason:

The romantic dinner with Bellamy.

Yes, before she had been going to bed, she used the knowledge of Bellamy choosing her for the date against her dark Echo thoughts but now… she wasn’t prepared for it, at all. She didn’t know what his intentions were by picking her; if he chose her because they were friends, if it was because he wanted to talk to her about ending whatever their relationship was… She had no idea what motivated him to take her on this date, but she would find out.

The only question was what she should be wearing.

She didn’t want to be overdressed, so she decided against wearing a dress. She would save them for the matching ceremony instead. An outfit combined with jeans wouldn’t work either because it would be too basic and wouldn’t fit well with the occasion. Sure, they were better than wearing joggers, but it just wasn’t what she envisioned herself in for the night.

Clarke sighed before she turned around and walked back to her drawer that was still open from the fumbling and searching for something to wear earlier.

The worst part of it all was that she had no idea what Bellamy would be wearing. He normally didn’t dress up, not even for the matching ceremony. He typically just wore a pair of jeans and a flannel if he wanted to look more dressed up, but other than that? Black shirt, black jeans, black shoes, there you go.

Of course men had it easier than women, Clarke knew that herself, but it would help a little to know what he wanted to wear so they could decide the dress code together.

It was all Aryana’s fault. She didn’t tell them where they would be going, only that the camera team would film them for a little bit of their date.

Still, it didn’t help her actual problem.

So instead of wasting more time, she grabbed her bathrobe and shrugged it on before she pulled the door of the closet open and walked into the bedroom. The only person she met on her way to the door was Luna who was digging through her drawer of her nightstand. She stopped as soon as she noticed that Clarke was out of the closet and looked at her from over her shoulder.

"You don’t look ready." She stated.

Clarke laughed and turned around while opening the door. "Yeah, well. That’s because I have no idea what I should wear."

"Ah, understood. Ask Raven or Emori, maybe one of them can help you choose. As you can see, I’m trying to fit all my stuff into this dumb drawer."

To ask Raven actually wasn’t a bad idea. She would take Luna’s advice and do so after she talked to Bellamy. She only needed to know where he was, but perhaps Luna could help her with that.

"Will do, but first, I need to know where Bellamy is. Can you help me with that?"

Luna stood up correctly and closed her drawer again, then turned to Clarke. She tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows which Clarke interpreted as Luna trying to remember if Bellamy told her anything about where he would be getting ready. When Luna started nodding slowly and smiling at her, she knew that she had been right.

"Yeah, either kitchen, bathroom, or in Monty’s room. You gotta check there, but I would go downstairs first. As far as I know, he finished dinner some minutes ago so he might still be there. If not, then he’s under the shower and if he _isn’t_ …," she took a breath before continuing, "then he’s getting dressed in Monty’s."

Clarke laughed again and nodded. "Thanks. I’ll start in the kitchen then."

"Welcome, Clarke."

She smiled again before turning around and walking out of the room to make her way downstairs. She knew she wasn’t wearing anything other than the robe and underwear right now, so she hoped nothing would happen. Sometimes she could be a clumsy fool.

Still, she got onto the first floor without missing a stair or falling down, but in the end it didn’t matter because Bellamy was nowhere to be found. The only people in the kitchen and living area were Wells, Lexa, Zeke, Emori, and Finn. It confused her for a second since Luna told her that dinner was ready, yet not even half of the group was downstairs.

Clarke shook her head and walked over to Lexa, who was cleaning the dishes. As soon as Clarke stepped next to her, Lexa turned her head to the side and sent her a light smile. They hadn’t talked a lot after what had happened between them, but being civil was necessary for winning the money at the end of the tenth week.

"Hi, can I ask you something?" Clarke questioned, whereupon Lexa nodded and turned back to washing some plates.

"Sure, what’s up?"

Clarke leaned her hip against the counter and begun playing with the belt of her rope.

"Do you know where Bellamy is?"

Lexa stopped cleaning the dishes but didn’t turn to look at her at first. Clarke could see how she kept her eyes on the dishes in the sink, but couldn’t identify her facial expression until Lexa turned her head again to face her. Surprisingly, she had a smile on her face.

"Nervous?" She asked, causing Clarke to laugh a little.

"I’m not going to answer that question…"

Lexa kept smiling while shaking her head. "You don’t have to be. He makes you happy and it’s clear that he likes you. Enough reasons for you to relax about the situation. I bet it’s gonna be great."

Clarke blinked a few times, surprised by what Lexa told her. She really changed from the previous weeks and Clarke liked it, seriously. It showed her that Lexa thought about her behavior and stopped judging people based on what she had seen before. Clearly, Lexa wanted to win this game as much as everyone else and Clarke could only be glad that Lexa was mature enough to be nice to everyone. Some people couldn’t relate.

Clarke smiled softly then nodded. "I appreciate you saying that. Let’s just hope you’re right."

"I’m not saying that I am." Lexa replied before turning back to washing the dishes. "But him liking you is no secret and you do, too. Maybe we should put you into the Truth Booth next week."

And here Clarke had to stop her.

"No! Oh my God, please don’t do it." She said and stopped playing with her belt, placing her hand on the counter instead.

Lexa turned her head back to Clarke and frowned. "Why not?"

"Because…"

Correct. Because _why?_ She couldn’t explain to Lexa that she didn’t think Bellamy returned her feelings. Jesus, she didn’t even want anyone to know that she was in love with him, but apparently she wasn’t as subtle about it as she wanted to be. Perhaps, she should start getting closer to someone else so people could stop gossiping about her and Bellamy’s relationship. Yet she knew she would go back to him as soon as she would finish a conversation with any other participant.

Fuck her feelings.

"Because we’re just friends." She said instead.

Lexa laughed a little then nodded. "Alright, if you say so… Anyway, I think he wanted to take a shower, but it’s," she spun her head to the other side and looked at the clock on the wall before she turned back to look at her, "7:45 PM so maybe he’s already done. Should be getting ready by now."

"Okay, thanks."

"Welcome."

Clarke smiled at Lexa one more time, which she did as well, before she made her way upstairs again. She only had fifteen minutes left to get ready. She wasn’t wearing any clothes, had no idea what she should pick out anyway, and her hair was still wet and unstyled. Instead of looking for Bellamy, she should just go back to the closet and pick a random outfit, but she didn’t want to.

So she walked to the men’s bathroom and placed her hand on the door handle.

But she didn’t open the door, not when she heard _her_ talking and laughing.

Clarke was about to freak out. Still, she decided against walking inside and just leaned against the door sideways so that she could press her ear up against it. She should stop eavesdropping whenever she walked in on a conversation, but knowing that Echo was in there, laughing about something with someone, which she knew was Bellamy, made her mad.

What was she doing in there anyway if Bellamy took a shower!?

Time to find out.

"I told you the stuff you’re wearing is too similar and basic. Have you seen Nathan’s style?" _Echo_ again.

"And what about it?" Yeah, Clarke wanted to throw up now that she heard Bellamy’s voice. "I’m not a rapper and Miller isn’t either, but it fits to him, so."

Echo laughed again. What exactly was so funny about him saying that? Clarke rolled her eyes.

"Okay, true. Try these jeans with…" she trailed off for a few seconds before she continued, "This. You won’t be overdressed and I believe it’s gonna look good on you."

"I believe it’s gonna look good on you." Clarke repeated quickly, mocking her. This girl was really getting on her nerves and she couldn’t believe that Bellamy was actually taking Echo’s advice. Throwing up really was the only option.

"Mhm. I don’t like the combination…"

"That’s because you always wear boring stuff, I’ve told you this already."

Now Bellamy was the one laughing and to be honest…

It hurt.

Clarke knew that he wanted to try to get along with everyone and after all, that’s what they all wanted, but Echo was playing with him, especially after what happened in the waiting room of the hospital. Of course Bellamy didn’t know that and no one had told him about it because they didn’t want to stress him out, but the fact that he was now trying to befriend Echo made her sick.

And sad.

So instead of staying there, she turned around and walked back to her bedroom. Hopefully Luna wouldn’t be there. She could feel how close she was to breaking down again. Yes because of Echo. She knew that she shouldn’t cry because of this, not without talking to Bellamy about the whole situation first, but dammit. She knew Echo was doing all of this on purpose and even if Clarke told Bellamy this, he would keep being nice because that’s just who he was: a nice and good guy.

Maybe this dinner was a bad idea after all. She should just pretend to be sick and call things off so that Bellamy could keep laughing with Echo.

"Cool." Clarke said to herself as she walked into the bedroom and found no one else in there.

She walked back into the closet and closed the door behind her, locking it as well. As soon as she turned towards the mirror, she tilted her head to the side and frowned.

Fuck her feelings, again. They were the reason she felt this way and she wished she had never developed them because this was the result. She was being possessive and a fucking cry baby, jealous even. It disgusted her that she was one of those people and she should calm the fuck down. After all, she was close to Murphy as well.

"Ugh," But Murphy wasn’t Echo. "Whatever, let’s just forget about her existence and get ready."

Surprisingly, she had been able to do it. Instead of worrying about why Echo was in the men’s bathroom with Bellamy, she struggled with finding something to wear that was fitting. In the end, Raven helped her choose an outfit and she had been glad that her friend did after all.

She wore leather pants with a white shirt and a black denim jacket on top. She combined plain white sneakers with it and obviously had the bracelet Bellamy got for her on her wrist. She had no time to do much with her hair, so she just straightened it and left it down. She was fine with the result and thought that it was the best she could’ve done with the only fifteen minutes she had left.

Clarke hoped that she wouldn’t embarrass herself or cause unnecessary drama during the date because of her Echo issue. Maybe she could handle her feelings about this whole situation.

Maybe.

# # # # # # # # # # 

8.15 pm.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes at Clarke and how she dipped her fries into the milkshake she had ordered. She had been doing this for a few minutes now, since the waiter brought them their food.

After the first ten minutes of their date, they had decided to just act normal as usual and not see it as a first date. They didn’t want it to be awkward and both admitted that it would be weird to drink wine and eat some expensive meal on the menu if they were nothing near dating each other. Clarke had pulled her head back a little and blinked a few times when Bellamy made that comment. Her reaction confused him slightly, but she had told him that it was the right thing to do.

So instead of ordering crème brulée and eating fancy mushrooms, they standardly got burger and fries… plus a milkshake. Bellamy still thought it wasn’t the best combination, especially dipping fries into a strawberry shake, but Clarke couldn’t stop eating it this way… which triggered him.

"How can you eat that shit?" Bellamy asked, looking at her now instead of watching her dip her fries into the milkshake.

Clarke turned her head back to face him since she had been looking at the view they had and not at how she was eating. She rolled her eyes, then put the fry into her mouth, chewing on it for what felt like an eternity to Bellamy. He knew that she was doing this on purpose to piss him off and it kind of even worked, but only for a few seconds. He was too weak to be mad at her for long and he hated it.

"Well…," she begun, smiling a little, "You would know how if you let me put it in your mouth."

Bellamy groaned as he leaned back against his chair. He had no intentions of tasting this crap at all, but maybe he was just making a fuss for no reason. _Fuck it_.

"Alright, come over."

Clarke grinned like an idiot before she took her milkshake in one hand and rose up from her chair. Bellamy followed her with his eyes as she walked over to his side and pushed his chair back in the meantime. As soon as Clarke got to him, she sat down on his lap and grabbed his fries to pull them closer, then took one out and dipped it into her shake.

"Gross."

"You’ll love it, believe me." Clarke assured before she turned around a little and held the fry up to his mouth, keeping her hand underneath it so that the shake wouldn’t drop onto her leather pants (which looked amazing on her, causing Bellamy to compliment her, making her blush) or on his own black pair of jeans.

"The only thing I know is that it doesn’t even look delicious." Bellamy said, but leaned closer anyway.

"Strange. Usually you have taste."

"Fuck off, Griffin."

Clarke just laughed lightly in response, whereupon he shook his head. However, there was no way out of tasting that crap. He already told her that he would try it, so he would eat it once, then never again.

Bellamy parted his lips wide enough for Clarke to put the fry in his mouth.

Well.

It wasn’t bad.

_It wasn’t bad,_ but it didn’t taste delicious either. Of course he wouldn’t tell Clarke so she had a reason to mock him. Yet that wasn’t even necessary because she was already looking at him with a grin on her lips and one of her eyebrows lifted.

"You like it."

Bellamy groaned and rolled his eyes at the same time but couldn’t hide his smile either. Before he answered, he swallowed first, then leaned back against his chair again and placed one of his hands on Clarke’s thigh.

"I never said that… but it’s okay. Maybe I don’t like it that much because it’s a strawberry milkshake."

"What?" Clarke laughed. "Who doesn’t love strawberry milkshakes?"

Bellamy shrugged his shoulders and squeezed her thigh once, which caused her to title her head to the side and shake it slowly. At first, he just grinned, but then he squeezed her thigh once again before answering her question.

"I prefer chocolate, to be honest."

Clarke nodded slowly, turned her head back to the front and grabbing another one of his fries before she dipped it into the shake once again. Bellamy wasn’t sure if she decided not to respond to him for a reason or if there was just nothing to say anymore. He didn’t mind either, but he still wanted to get her attention again so moved his hand up slowly, closer to her crotch. As expected, that got Clarke’s attention and she shook her head.

"What?"

"Leave my thigh alone." She said, somehow serious but definitely with a very light smile on her lips.

"Your thigh… got it."

Since Clarke wanted him to take his hand away from her thigh, he went further up until he was almost touching her cunt, but before that could happen, she took his hand away and placed it onto his own thigh.

"You’re an idiot."

Bellamy grinned and titled his chin to the milkshake again. "C’mon, give me another one."

"No." Clarke said and turned back around, eating a fry herself.

"You’re mean, Griffin. I’ll keep this moment in mind."

Clarke groaned and turned around with her torso so that she could face him again. He just tilted his head in response, waiting for her to put another one of her shake-dipped-fries in his mouth, but instead of doing so, she leaned closer and placed her lips on his. He hadn’t seen that coming, but it didn’t stop him from returning the kiss _and_ placing his hand on her thigh again.

The kiss turned out to be longer than Bellamy expected and somehow it ended up as a quick make out session on the rooftop (luckily they were currently the only ones up there since the camera team wanted to give them a few minutes alone). Maybe it was because they hadn’t _fucked_ during the past few days and weeks but…

Bellamy couldn’t finish his thought the moment Clarke started using her tongue as well without asking for permission, sliding further into him. If he wouldn’t stop her now, they would end up doing things they shouldn’t be doing where they were. But instead of pulling back, he let her do so and used his tongue as well, even if only for a few seconds before she decided that it was enough for now.

Clarke just grinned, then got up from his lap and went to sit back down on her chair.

This girl was unbelievable. There wasn’t anything else he could do but follow her movements with his eyes and smirk to himself.

Maybe she would be the death to him.

# # # # # # # # # #

8.45 pm.

"Excuse me?"

"Huh?" Clarke swept her eyes away from her hands that she was currently washing and fixed her gaze on a pretty brunette at the sink next to her. "Yes?"

The girl kept looking at her for a while with a smile on her lips before she turned her head forward again and looked at herself in the mirror.

"I just wanted to say that your boyfriend and you are adorable. I’ve seen you interacting, laughing, kissing… you’re really great together."

Clarke frowned as she closed the faucet and reached for the paper towels at the side of the sink. She had no idea what she should say to the girl or what she expected her to answer to her statement. Should she tell her the truth or just thank her for the… compliment? Was it even one?

And besides that, it seemed like everyone thought so now. First Murphy started with calling Bellamy her husband, then Jasper begun the whole ‘Mom and Dad’ thing. Then there had been the seller from the shop they went to on their getaway date who called her Bellamy’s girlfriend, next to Raven of course, and now this brunette girl told her the same. At this point, Clarke had really no idea what to say anymore.

Maybe she should just go with the truth.

"That’s… nice of you," Clarke began and threw the towels she used into the bin before she turned sideways, facing the brunette now. "But we aren’t together… it’s a bit complicated. We’re participating in a Dating Show. We’re on a date that my- that he won."

The girl frowned, which Clarke could understand. This whole situation was weird on one hand, but someone totally random dropping that comment only made her think about it more. Perhaps they really were acting like a couple and that was what caused her to develop feelings for Bellamy in the first place. The chances were high that it was because of that. Maybe she should talk to him and tell him her opinion on all of this but first, she was pulled out of her thoughts by the brunette.

"Oh… I get it. I’m sorry for misinterpreting the situation then," She smiled softly and Clarke was ready to respond to what she had been saying, tell her that she didn’t have to be sorry for assuming Bellamy and her were a couple, but she couldn’t do so because the girl just continued. "But you’re on a date that he won and he decided to go with you for a reason. Maybe you guys belong to each other. It’s a Dating Show after all."

Clarke blinked a couple of times before she slightly shook her head. Yes, it was a Dating Show. Yes, she was in love with him, but no one said it was mutual and perhaps she was just wrong. Bellamy didn’t have to be her perfect match just because she had feelings for him. Miller had feelings for Jackson as well and look where they were now: confirmed to be no match and figuring out who really was instead. That could happen to her, too.

Well, to be honest, she had no intention of going into the Truth Booth with Bellamy. At the end, it would be confirmed that they weren’t a perfect match and she had to watch Bellamy live on and get closer, like _closer,_ to someone else. No need for that. Hopefully, the others would never try to vote her into the Truth Booth with Bellamy. Just… never.

Apparently she drifted off too much and instead of waiting longer for her response, the brunette just smiled at her and ended the conversation.

"Anyway, I hope you enjoy the night and maybe I’ll watch the show only for you two."

Clarke laughed and nodded. "Alright, it was nice meeting you. Have a good night yourself."

The girl left the restroom after that and Clarke was alone again. It was weird knowing that in a few months people would actually watch what they had been through those past few weeks and upcoming ones. Sometimes she forgot that it would air and that it wasn’t just for them, but for the viewers, too. It was entertainment but with a real reason behind it, to find their perfect match and right now, Clarke had no idea if she really wanted to find out.

The current situation she was in confused her a lot and she wasn’t sure what exactly was going on between her and Bellamy. She didn’t want to blame it on someone else because nobody was involved in whatever they had, but hearing Echo and Bellamy having an actual conversation, her helping him choose an outfit to this romantic dinner with _her,_ it all really made her question every single moment that they had shared. Maybe she had been stupid. Maybe nothing that ever happened between them meant anything and she just tried to give it a meaning because of the stupid feelings she had.

But it was enough.

Clarke couldn’t act like everything was okay again. It was hard enough for her to do it for half an hour and she knew that there was no way that she could keep playing happy and delighted to be here with Bellamy. She didn’t want to confront him, not at their date, but she knew that after all the things that happened today, her facial expression and change of mood (which wasn’t exactly one because she felt like this before but clearly was a good actress) would show Bellamy that something was wrong.

…And she had to be right. 

# # # # # # # # # # 

"Hey…"

Bellamy lifted his gaze from his plate and watched how Clarke walked back to their table, sitting down across from him again. He smiled softly but stopped as soon as he noticed that something was clearly wrong. She wasn’t smiling at him and the way she greeted him didn’t sound excited either.

"Are you alright?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

Clarke nodded slightly and reached for her glass and the water bottle that stood on the table. Bellamy watched her pour the water into it but focused more on her facial expression than on what she was doing; Something was bugging her. He didn’t want to ask her about it, rather try to keep this date going well, but seeing her like this made him feel bad. So he could only ask her once again if she was alright since she didn’t show any intention of answering his first question.

"Clarke… is everything fine?"

"Yeah, sure."

Bellamy sighed. "You’re not. I would prefer talking about it now than later. We’re alone so if you need to get something off your chest… do it now."

"I don’t want to ruin the mood…" Clarke explained, making him frown.

"You not talking to me and with that expression on your face, it’s ruined already."

Clarke lifted her gaze from her cup and looked at him instead. Now she seemed to be sorry and it made him feel bad for what he had just said, but it was the truth. He knew that something was wrong and it changed the vibe of this dinner already. Sure, he didn’t want it to change any more than it already had, but if Clarke needed to speak about something, rather now than later.

"Okay." She lifted her glass and took a few sips at first, looking away from him and focusing on the view off the rooftop instead.

Bellamy sighed. He had no idea what was bugging Clarke and without her telling him, he would never find out. The real question was if he _really_ wanted to know what was going on. He couldn’t even imagine what had happened while she was in the restroom for her whole mood to change. She either came to the conclusion that all of this was wrong and that she didn’t want to be here with him, which hurt him for some reason, or she kept something to herself for a long time already.

But he would find out.

"So… Echo visited you." Clarke said quietly as she placed her glass back on the table and looked at him again. At first Bellamy frowned, not understanding where she got that from, but then he remembered that she was in his hospital room the moment he came from the bathroom, which meant that Echo and Clarke had seen each other, probably in the hallway. He had no clue what happened, but he was sure that Clarke would tell him as soon as the conversation got deeper.

"Yeah," He nodded slowly before he pushed his plate away from him and placed his elbows on the table instead, leaning forward. "She did. Wanted to tell me to get well soon and all that stuff, why?"

Clarke cleared her throat and scratched the back of her neck. Bellamy frowned because of that, but waited for her to say something instead of keeping it to herself. He had a guess as to what this conversation would be about, but he could be wrong.

"Basically… I didn’t expect her to visit you. It was… weird seeing her walk out of your room. I mean, that was a nice gesture of her, don’t get me wrong, but… with the things she had done, it confused me a little. She never seemed to care about any of us and then she went to see you. I don’t know if you understand what I’m trying to say?"

"No, I get it," Bellamy smiled softly then leaned back against his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Believe me, I was surprised myself, but she really wanted me to understand that she’s trying her best to open up to people and take part in this game. I think it’s only fair that we try to get along with her as well, for winning I mean."

Clarke nodded slowly but she clearly wasn’t impressed by what he had been saying. Maybe it was because she didn’t believe any word that Echo had said or that she couldn’t imagine her being so friendly, God, he didn’t even know himself that Echo could be kind if she wanted to. But her visiting him showed him that she was trying to make a difference, trying to change her behavior and he liked that.

"Okay… yeah. I see."

Now Bellamy frowned. "What is the problem, Clarke?"

"Nothing."

"Apparently it’s not nothing otherwise you wouldn’t be acting the way you are right now."

Clarke sighed and looked at him for a brief second before she rolled her eyes.

"She didn’t give a fuck about you, Bellamy, about none of us. Then she comes to visit you and you greet her with open arms as if she had always been nice before. I just don’t understand why you’re now friends with her if she clearly doesn’t care about this game, nor any of us."

"That’s fair, but don’t you think that it’s now time to stop holding grudges against each other? We’ve come to the conclusion that Finn is an asshole but decided that it would be better for the game if we get along. So what’s the difference with Echo now?"

Clarke didn’t answer him immediately. Instead, she pulled her milkshake further to her and started dipping one of her fries into it again. Bellamy knew that she was trying to find an argument against what he just said, but there was none. They all agreed to work as a group together, with everyone, and Echo was a participant so getting along with her was necessary. Still, Clarke didn’t think so.

"The difference with Echo is that she doesn’t give a fuck: not about us, not about this Dating Show. I’ve already said that. Why would you try to convince someone to act all nice to us if she clearly doesn’t want to?"

"Who said she doesn’t want to?" Bellamy questioned and raising one of his eyebrows.

"I do. It’s just the truth."

Bellamy nodded then tilted his head to the side. "I don’t remember you talking to her, so how do you know that she doesn’t want to get along with us? Have you thought about the fact that she’s a little more introverted than some of us and would rather keep everything to herself and stay alone than hanging out with a bunch of people she doesn’t know?"

"Sorry," Clarke said after snorting. "She should’ve know that before applying to this show. The time of getting to know each other has passed. We have other things to focus on."

Now Bellamy had to roll his eyes.

"Whatever, Clarke," He didn’t want to defend Echo. For some reason, it just didn’t feel right, but Clarke not accepting her as part of this show and trying her best to make this work out for everyone was just strange. He had never thought that it would annoy Clarke that much… if it wasn’t about something else. "You jealous?"

"What?" Clarke shook her head and laughed a little before she put a fry into her mouth. Bellamy sighed but waited for her to finish chewing. He wouldn’t leave without an answer from her. He wouldn’t make _her_ leave before she replied to him. This was definitely about something other than Echo adapting to him and everyone else.

"I’m waiting." He said.

"And I’m eating."

"Jesus…" Bellamy rolled his eyes. "You’re acting like a five-year-old."

"If you think I’m such a child, then maybe ask Echo if she wants to go on a romantic dinner date with you the next time since she’s helping you choose what you’re wearing by now anyway."

Without realizing, his eyebrows quirked up. He was so surprised by her comment that he had to shake his head at first and recall what she had just said. Never had he thought of Clarke saying something like this, but worse than that was that he was hurt by it.

Her knowing about Echo helping him choosing an outfit, which he had picked for himself in the end, didn’t even matter to him. What caused him to feel a stabbing pain in his chest was the fact that she believed Echo could replace her, that he would’ve chosen Echo, or anyone else, instead of her. And that just wasn’t it.

_It wasn’t it._

"You really believe that I would choose anyone over you? That’s what you’re thinking?" He asked carefully, yet perplexed. In response, Clarke just shrugged her shoulders and that showed him enough. "Alright. Good to know."

"Yes."

Bellamy shook his head and rubbed his forehead while looking over to the side, sweeping his eyes over the large buildings. He couldn’t believe that Clarke thought of him this way. After everything he had done for her, shown her, she thought that she was just as important to him as anybody else on this Dating Show. He wasn’t sure if that made him mad or if it hurt him more, but it was probably the latter.

He sighed and got up from his chair, grabbing his jacket from it. Just by looking at it, he had to shake his head and rethink if that was a great idea, wearing the bomber jacket Echo gifted to him because she had no intention of wearing it. He had wanted to tell Clarke about it but for sure he wouldn’t do so now. She would freak out about it and think that Echo was now more valid than her but…

_It wasn’t it._

He had no clue why, but the past few days, a lot of things in his mind changed and he really had to figure out what all of this meant.

So leaving now was the only thing he could do, especially since Clarke was behaving the way she was.

"Alright… I didn’t expect the dinner to turn out like this, but there is no way that it can be steered in a better direction anymore. I wish this had ended differently. You can talk to me again when you’re not acting this way anymore and decide to talk to me like a normal person. Sorry."

Bellamy didn’t wait for Clarke to say anything and just left the rooftop. Some of the camera team followed him on his way out of the restaurant and some stayed with Clarke, but he didn’t care. What happened had never been his intention and it hurt knowing that Clarke thought of him in such a way. He wasn’t sure if she would actually talk to him again, later, the next day… he had no idea. All he knew was that he didn’t like the situation they were in now and hopefully it would change sooner rather than later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who knows how long it's going to take them to talk with each oher again...
> 
> as per usual, comments and kudos are appreciated!   
> thanks voting me into the final of BFWA!   
> much love xo


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do we feel after the last chapter? good or bad? is it going to get better already or even worse? 
> 
> who knows apart from me... all i can say is that both have their reasons.  
> enjoy!

9.30 pm.

"Clarke, C’mon! As if it was so bad that you won’t tell me anything about it?"

Clarke turned her head around to Raven but didn’t stop brushing her teeth. That was one of the reasons why she hadn’t told her friend anything about the dinner with Bellamy yet. The main reason, though, was that it had been _bad_. She didn’t plan on telling anyone about how it went, thus she was too tired and embarrassed with herself.

The date took such a drastic turn that she couldn’t have even expected it herself. Yes, in the restroom she came to the conclusion that the only thing that could make her feel any better was talking to Bellamy about her issues with Echo. It turned out to just cause problems between her and Bellamy because she let her heart rule the conversation and not her head.

God, she could never forget the look he had on his face when she agreed to Bellamy asking her if she really believed Echo was more important to him than her. It would never get out of her brain again and she hated herself for it.

It wasn’t even that she thought Echo meant more to him; she wasn’t dumb, of course that wasn’t the truth, but her emotions were all over the place and caused her to fuck up the whole situation.

And now she had to live with the consequences. Bellamy wasn’t talking to her and wouldn’t until she had the balls to go up to him and apologize.

She knew that it was the only way for things to get better between them, but she couldn’t do it. Especially because Echo was still in the picture and even if she apologized to him, Bellamy would continue his so-called friendship with Echo. She already thought of giving her a nickname that fit to the girl’s personality so whenever she wanted to trash talk her, she could use it instead of her actual name.

Clarke rolled her eyes. Now she was turning into a jealous bitch, which was nothing she wanted to be.

She spit into the sink then cleaned it as well as her mouth and toothbrush before she placed it back into her cup. After that, she grabbed her towel, drying her lips and picking up her toilet bag as soon as she was done.

"Raven," she said, turning around and sighing at the same time, "I’m tired. Can we talk about this sometime else, please? Tomorrow maybe?"

The brunette narrowed her eyes at her and Clarke realized Raven was trying to figure out what could have happened at the dinner that altered her mood so drastically. Before her and Bellamy had gotten picked up by the driver and the camera team, Raven had helped her choose something to wear and even then, she had been in a better mood, even if she already wanted to kill herself _and_ Echo… not seriously, of course.

Now Clarke was tired of acting as if everything was alright, but wasn’t ready to talk about it with someone, especially because she already started feeling like she was the bad guy.

"Fine, tomorrow. If you don’t talk to me, I’ll ask Bellamy." Raven threatened, now smiling lightly.

"Okay," Clarke returned it then walked to the door, turning around one last time. "Goodnight then."

"Night, Clarkey."

The blonde left the bathroom and closed the door behind her, hoping that Raven wouldn’t forget to lock it since she still wanted to take her shower.

To be honest, Clarke had no idea how the bed situation would work now. She didn’t know if she needed to leave the bed _and_ room. Maybe Echo would take over her spot and sleep with Bellamy in one bed.

"Cool." Clarke mumbled to herself on her way back to the bedroom.

Her mind was full of dark thoughts and madness, which surely wouldn’t go away as long as she was in this situation. The fact that Echo was doing all this on purpose to piss her off and to get closer to Bellamy only made it worse.

She would have told everyone about her feelings and asked if they could back off so that she could figure out if Bellamy returned them or not, which was probably the latter. However, Echo’s only intentions were driving her crazy so she talking to her wasn’t an option. Instead, Clarke was sure that Echo would be mocking her for having feelings for Bellamy.

"Ouch! Goddammit!"

"Woah, relax, Griffin. You alright?"

Clarke kneeled down and grabbed her toilet bag from the floor as well as her towel that fell down the moment she bumped into Murphy. Luckily, there was no one else in the hallway right now so it hadn’t been that embarrassing.

She rose up from the floor and hooked her bag under her arm before she looked at Murphy.

"I’m completely fine," Clarke tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, a fake smile making its way on her lips. "Are you going to see Raven?"

"Maybe. Why are you asking?" he asked.

Clarke nodded slowly then shrugged her shoulders. "Oh just because you actually started something with Emori and kept hold of it for like six weeks until magically Raven is your number one. Why are all guys acting like idiots this week?"

Without saying another word, she tried to pass him but Murphy just grabbed her forearm gently, making her stop.

"What’s the matter?"

Clarke sighed, looked at him again and was greeted by a worried expression on his face. She knew by now that Murphy cared about her and only wanted her to live her best life at this mansion, but lately she felt like going home was the only option to get rid of the pain she felt close to her heart.

Still, she told herself that she wouldn’t tell anyone about her issues, even if Murphy was usually the first person she would talk to. Not today.

"I’m just exhausted of this game, okay? I want to get under the blanket and get over with this day, but you’re stopping me from doing so." She explained.

"Well…" Murphy let go of her forearm and smiled softly. "If that’s all you need and want. Have a goodnight."

Clarke sighed out of relief then nodded, smiling a little bit herself. "Thanks. Have a nice shower."

"Thanks."

They parted ways, Murphy entering the door to his left, Clarke entering the door to the right. Each of her roommates were already there except for Bellamy. Just because of that, she could release the breath she was holding again, but also cry because she didn’t want him to sleep anywhere else. Yes, she would turn her back to him so she wouldn’t have to see his face, but she still wanted him to sleep with her in one bed. It definitely would be awkward, but she knew that it wouldn’t be harder than handling Echo’s existence around her.

"Hello Clarke!"

The blonde rolled her eyes slightly, yet she smiled at Echo for a brief moment before entering the closet. Bellamy wasn’t in there either and again, she was glad because she didn’t have to face him yet. She was aware of the fact that she hurt him and couldn’t look him in the eyes after it, but he hurt her, too… even if only unintentionally.

That was exactly the reason why she hated the way she was behaving. He had no idea what Echo had said a week ago when Bellamy was hospitalized, and it didn’t seem like anyone would tell him soon. She was the one who knew about it and was mad at Echo for her actions, just like most of the group was. Still, the way she acted right now wasn’t fair because Bellamy had no clue of her feelings nor of Echo provoking her. He would understand why she was behaving like this if she would tell him, but that wasn’t an option.

The only choice she had at that moment was to keep her mouth shut and try to get rid of these feelings… if that was even possible.

So after Clarke had put her stuff back on top of the drawer, she went back into the bedroom and walked straight up to her bed right next to the window. It had been Bellamy’s bed right from the beginning and for a slight second, she was happy again only because she could face the window and wall instead of facing Bellamy.

"Clarke! Don’t you want to tell us about the dinner? How did it go?"

_No, Echo._ There was no reason for Clarke to tell her about it _at all_. If she wanted to know how it went so badly, she had the green light and could ask Bellamy.

"Maybe I’m gonna tell you tomorrow." was all Clarke said before pushing the blanket away and taking off her slippers. Changing into her pajamas first was the best thing she could have done so now she only needed to lay down sideways, turned to the window, and close her eyes.

And that was what she did. Yet, Echo didn’t seem to care about it.

"You’re going to sleep now? At quarter past nine? Why?"

Clarke took a deep breath to calm herself down and to not shout _shut the fuck up, Echo._ There really wasn’t any other person who was getting on her nerves as much as she was and it annoyed her. She shouldn’t be that affected by everything the brunette was doing, but she _was_ because it had to do with her being in love. Echo was in her way and now that she was in a fight with Bellamy, Echo wouldn’t get out of it either.

"Yeah," Although, Clarke wasn’t feeling well enough to crack a joke, she did. "Too much sex."

The blonde grinned for two or three seconds before the sadness overcame her again. Echo didn’t say a word, nor did Wells or Luna, but the door was pulled open and to her surprise, she could hear Bellamy laughing. Whoever he was talking to seemed to be the reason why he was in such a good mood and probably completely forgot about her already.

Maybe she had been right when agreeing to Bellamy’s statement of not being the most important person for him.

She was such a cry baby.

"No, let’s just do it tomorrow morning. I think that'll work best."

"Alright." _Sasha._ "Sleep well."

"Same goes to you."

Clarke frowned for a bit before she relaxed her forehead again and shook her head instead. She was close to a breakdown and all because she was acting like a possessive and jealous girlfriend even if she wasn’t one. She had never been like this and stayed away from people who were, but now she wasn’t behaving any better.

Great.

In the end, she was glad that Bellamy hadn’t decided to sleep anywhere else and just got under the blanket, even telling her to sleep well. Obviously she said it back, but there hadn’t been any continued conversation between them.

And the only thing she remembered before falling asleep was how she had to keep her shit together to not bursts out into tears next to him.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 6, Day 37 – Saturday. Los Angeles. 10 am.

Bellamy walked out of the house to the garden area and looked around at first, sweeping his eyes over the outdoors. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for when he saw Sasha sitting on the couch lounge, one cup in her hand and another one placed on the table. He smiled softly then walked over before sitting down right next to her.

"You found me." Sasha stated, looking at him and returning the smile.

Bellamy just shrugged his shoulders, his lip still curled upwards, and leaned over to grab the cup.

"Is that coffee or tea?" he asked before he leaned back against the cushion.

"Coffee, why? Do you hate tea?"

He shook his head then turned it around to face her again. "Nah, I just wanted to know what’s inside of it to prepare myself,” Sasha laughed and nodded slightly before she cleared her throat. Bellamy raised his eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, just a tiny bit. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Okay, so," She scooted a little bit away from him so that she could turn her torso around, facing him better now than before. Meanwhile, Bellamy placed his left arm on the armrest and held his cup with his right hand, sipping on it while she was positioning herself correctly. "To be honest, I wanted to talk with you about Monty and him being my perfect match."

Bellamy furrowed his brows. He hadn’t expected that the reason Sasha asked him if he had time to talk about was something important. Actually, she wanted to do so earlier, on Thursday, since that was the first time she showed any intention of speaking to him. It was weird that she picked him out of everyone else, especially the girls, but he wouldn’t tell her to go ask someone else for help.

"Well… frankly, I didn’t think this would be our conversation." Bellamy said, smirking.

Sasha laughed then nodded. "Yeah I know. I’m sorry if this surprised you so much. You’re the one who tries to bring us all together the most and I thought it would only make sense to talk to you. I could’ve asked Raven, yeah, but she’s caught up in her own drama and Monty is obviously not an option."

That was understandable. Going to Raven or Monty was what everyone did whenever they felt like they weren’t choosing the right person as their perfect match. However, Raven was pretty busy herself, trying to find out if Murphy or Zeke was her match and asking Monty would be stupid if she wanted to talk about him. On top of that, she wasn’t wrong, saying that he was trying to get everyone to work together and get along as well.

Speaking of that… he hadn’t exchanged many words with Clarke _nor Echo._ The only things that he and Clarke said to each other were “good morning” and “goodnight”. Talking to Echo wasn’t an option either because he now knew how Clarke would react to it. He shouldn’t care about that, not after she admitted that she believed she was less important than Echo.

"Bellamy?"

He blinked a couple of times until he was sure that he was focusing again and fixed his gaze on Sasha again. She was smiling a little but it was obvious that she was slightly confused about his behavior and to be honest, she wasn’t the only one.

"Sorry, my own problems got into my mind."

Sasha just waved him off and brought the cup to her lips, taking a sip out of it.

Bellamy already felt bad and he hadn’t been sitting next to her for five minutes. His mind was a mess with all the things he was trying to figure out and pieces he wanted to put together. It was hard to do so when a bunch of other stuff needed to happen at the same time, but he was trying his best to focus on the main reasons he was here: the show and the money.

…And Clarke.

He wasn’t participating because of her, but she was definitely one of his priorities. He came here for Octavia in the first place, but she was now living her best life in the honeymoon suite with Lincoln. God, he missed her. All he wanted to do was hug her again and talk with her about everything and nothing. Hopefully, she would come visit them soon.

"Alright," Bellamy leaned forward and placed his cup on the table before he pressed his side against the cushion and faced Sasha again. "Tell me what’s going on. You’re not sharing a room with Monty anymore, not even a bed. Does he know why? Have you talked?"

Sasha sighed. "Basically… I had to rethink of everything that had happened the last few days and weeks and for some reason, I don’t see myself being Monty’s match? Don’t get me wrong, he’s definitely one of the nicest guys here, but I just know that we’re not a perfect match. I have feelings for him but I think before it all goes in the wrong direction, we need to talk about the possibility that we’re, as I’m expecting, not a perfect match. Otherwise, it was all for nothing, you know?"

Bellamy nodded slowly as he tried to do something with the information he received. Actually, the way Sasha was thinking wasn’t bad at all. She just wanted to make sure that they were playing the game correctly and on top of that, not lead Monty in the wrong direction. Besides, they had the chance to do something right this time without ending up at the point where they had been before, with a couple being confirmed not a match, just like it had been with Miller and Jackson. And if Sasha didn’t believe in the theory that Monty was her perfect match after all the drama that had been going on the past few days, then it was better to end things now rather than later.

"Listen, I don’t think that what you want to do is a bad idea. It’s better for the two of you and for us if you end whatever is going on between you, even if it’s going to be hard because you obviously have feelings for him." He paused, running his fingers through his curls.

"In the end, it isn’t good for Monty nor for you if you stay together when you’re already feeling like it’s not _your_ person. Without that feeling, that other person completing you, the relationship after the show won’t work out. If that should happen and you still have feelings for Monty, you can still get together."

Bellamy stopped there, he didn’t want to talk too much at once without giving Sasha a break. Apparently, she appreciated that because she used her free hand to rub her forehead and exhale one time. He knew that this whole thing was hard, harder than he at first had expected when he applied for this, but they were all trying to win this together.

They were here to find love and money, but it wasn’t necessarily important to stay with your perfect match and he wanted Sasha to understand that. If she wouldn’t, then the chances were high that she was throwing the relationship she had with Monty away for no reason other than winning this game.

"Okay…" Sasha started, letting go of her forehead. "So what you’re trying to say is that I should find my perfect match, but at the same time, I shouldn’t give up on my… relationship with Monty?"

Bellamy nodded. "Yeah, but that doesn’t imply that you should still… you know." he grinned.

Sasha just laughed in response and nodded herself. "Got it."

"Just talk to him first. That’s the only thing you can do for now. Tell him how you feel, it’s Monty after all; he’s not going to cut off your head. He’ll understand, I promise."

"Thank you, Bellamy." Sasha replied, smiling at the same time, whereupon Bellamy just waved her off.

"It’s nothing, really."

They parted ways some minutes later, after both of them had finished their cups of coffee.

Bellamy was glad that he had been able to help Sasha and couldn’t wait to see how it would go for her. They weren’t that close to each other, but close enough for him to care about her.

Still, this whole perfect match conversation just made him realize that he himself hadn’t really thought about it. The person he had always picked was Clarke without even believing that she was his, but after yesterday, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

What happened at the restaurant was still on his mind. Whenever he recalled how Clarke had shrugged her shoulders and answered with _yes_ when he had asked her if she really believed that Echo was more valid to him than her, he felt hurt. He had a reason in his mind as to why this was happening and at the moment, it was the only explanation that seemed to be right. Yet, he didn’t want to say it aloud nor even think about it in words.

But sooner or later he had to… he knew it.

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 6, Day 38 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 8 pm.

"Do you know who I feel bad for?" Bellamy lifted his head up, now looking at Miller instead of focusing on tying his shoes. "Emori and Zeke."

"Oh yeah." Bellamy could relate.

Whatever was going on between Murphy and Raven had to stop. Obviously, they had to find out who was their perfect match and the only way to do it correctly was interacting with other people too, but what the two of them were doing was nothing like that. They now slept in a bed together, constantly flirting even if someone else was around, and not caring if that someone was Zeke or Emori.

Bellamy loved Raven and Murphy; they were two of the people he was closest to, but how they were treating Emori and Zeke wasn’t right. He hadn’t talked to Raven nor Murphy yet and he had no intention of doing so either. If they wanted to ruin their win with their stupid behavior, then they had to deal with the consequences themselves. As long as neither of them had a conversation with Emori and Zeke, telling them that they had changed their mind and didn’t see the other as their match anymore, he wouldn’t make an effort to get them to use their brains. That could only happen if they would realize themselves that what they were doing wasn’t okay.

"It’s not my business, you know, but Raven hates Finn for the fact that he game-played her and Clarke, yet she isn’t any better and stole Murphy away from Emori? While they were actually friends? Like… what kind of bullshit is that!?" Miller uttered as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Bellamy sighed. "I don’t know, man. It actually is our business. This is a Dating Show where we have to figure out our match and without doing this together, we’ll never find out nor win the money."

"Exactly!? We’re all trying to make an effort: switching up rooms, sitting together with other people, and trying to get to know everyone but in a fucking fair way. Meanwhile, all the two can think of is flirting with each other and not giving a damn about how the others feel or if someone else thinks one of them is their actual match. Raven is jumping from Zeke to Murphy and back, she finally has to be serious about this game and find her match."

Bellamy laughed a little and stood up. He fixed his long-sleeve shirt at first before he turned to Miller and leaned his arm against the dresser behind him.

"Maybe that’s her way of finding her match. I don’t know," Miller raised his eyebrow and shook his head. "Listen, I’m as annoyed bout it as you are, especially because they’re playing with both Emori and Zeke’s feelings, but what do you want us to do? If they don’t want to change their behavior or talk to Emori and Zeke about how their feelings have changed or whatever, we can’t force them to do so. I mean, we can, but they wouldn’t listen to us anyway."

"I hate that you’re right… but you don’t like it either, right?"

"I told you it’s a little fucked up. From what I know, they haven’t talked to Emori nor Zeke and it doesn’t really help the game. If Emori really believes that Murphy is her perfect match and Zeke thinks the same about Raven, then we have two matches that are false and we lose the game. _That’s_ the problem. After the show ends, they can do whatever they want, whether it be together, have sex, whatever, but right now, it has nothing to do with the game. I feel like it’s more attraction than actual feelings."

Miller nodded slowly which Bellamy understood as him trying to figure out if he agreed with what he had just said or if his friend was against it.

He really didn’t care about whatever would happen after the show came to an end. They could all be in a relationship with their perfect match or not. Maybe the experts put them together, but being in a relationship with that person didn’t work out and it was better for both people to just be friends. That would be completely fine as well. However, now they had a goal and to reach it, they had to get their shit together, which currently wasn’t working so well because of several reasons.

"And what is that with you and Clarke?" Bellamy lifted his head immediately when Miller mentioned her name and frowned. "Well… more attraction or are there feelings involved?"

Bellamy blinked a few times before he pulled his head back and shook it slightly.

What kind of a question was that?

It surprised him that Miller asked him something like that, especially because the last weeks he hadn’t talked about the relationship Bellamy had with Clarke and had minded his own business. Now he dropped _that_ , out of nowhere, and Bellamy had no idea what to give him as an answer.

"What do you mean?" He asked instead, acting stupid. He knew exactly what his friend meant by that.

"I’m just asking. It seemed to be all good between you guys but since Friday, you aren’t together anymore. Not at breakfast, not when we’re all hanging out together," Miller shrugged his shoulders. "You had a date with her Friday evening and haven’t talked about it. Neither has she. So what’s going on between _you two_?"

Bellamy sighed once again. Of course Miller noticed that and if he did, then surely everyone else did as well. At this point, it was only a matter of time until someone would jump on the train and ask him, and certainly her too, what happened between them.

"Nothing much, to be honest, just us having a different opinion on something, that’s it." He shrugged it off before he turned to the mirror and ruffled his curls a bit.

"And because of a different opinion on something, that is ‘just it?’ You’re not talking anymore? Avoiding each other? Mhm, ‘kay."

Bellamy groaned and faced Miller again. His friend had one eyebrow quirked up, otherwise his position hadn’t changed. Bellamy knew that Miller was waiting for him to really tell him what happened, but he had no intentions of doing so. First of all, it was something that only mattered to him and Clarke. Secondly, he didn’t want to think about this again. It was enough that he had a conversation with Sasha the day before and had drifted off from time to time. There was no need to go through all of that again.

"Yeah, that’s it. It happens, alright? We’ll be good again in a few days."

"In a few _days?_ Now _that’s_ serious then," Bellamy rolled his eyes. "I won’t force you to talk about it with me, but maybe think about it? Like… if it’s worth fighting because of a different opinion on something and if it’s more important than your feelings for each other."

"Now who said that’s how it is? I... don’t have feelings for her, Nathan."

Miller cocked his head to the side and nodded slowly, but even that couldn’t hide the grin that was making its way on his lips.

"You called me by my name. You’ve never done that before."

Bellamy shrugged his shoulders. "And what about it?"

Miller laughed in response. "That means whatever you’re going through is serious. Think about it, Bellamy, about whatever you need to think. Only four weeks left after today’s matching ceremony. Think of how you want to spend them and where you want to end up."

Bellamy lifted one of his eyebrows, slightly annoyed by Miller trying to tell him how he should behave and what he should be doing, but at the end of the day, his friend was right. He didn’t want to be in a fight with Clarke until the show would end and never see her again afterwards, apart from the reunion.

He would definitely spend the night thinking about everything that happened since week one. That’s what he had promised himself before leaving the closet, ready for the matching ceremony.

Or not.

# # # # # # # # # # 

9 pm.

Clarke couldn’t care less about the matching ceremony and what she was wearing only proved that: some denim boyfriend jeans combined with an easy grey V-neck and grey sneakers, hair pulled back into a ponytail.

She knew exactly how this ceremony would turn out and she wasn’t here for it. She had been close to pretending to be sick so that she wouldn’t have to attend, but that would have been suspicious. Raven had already asked her why she wasn’t dressed up for the ceremony, but instead of telling her the real reason, she just said she was starting to feel sick.

And still she was here, standing next to Luna to her right and Emori to her left. Clarke told herself that she wanted to spend more time with Emori again, especially with what her friend was going through at the same time. Maybe they could bond over their mutual sadness and cry on one another’s shoulder, but Emori didn’t seem to be such a person.

Again, Clarke was such a cry baby. She knew and hated it.

"Great to see you guys again. Your sixth matching ceremony and the last time you were able to get seven beams! Are we trying to top that again or is it going to end up badly for you? Who knows! We’re here to find out!"

They all started clapping, some louder than the others, but that didn’t stop Clarke from not being invested in this ceremony. All she really wanted to do was lay in bed, sleep, and cry until there were no tears left; A constant mood since Friday.

"Y’all know how it works. Pick one of the people that you’re now standing with when you’re in front of me. We’ll chat a bit, I’ll ask why you chose that person as your perfect match for the night, and then you’ll lock into the system. That goes on ten times, since you already have a perfect match sitting on one of the seats. Lincoln and Octavia, we’re glad to see you! How is it going?"

Clarke turned her head to the right and immediately smiled when she saw how Lincoln whispered something into Octavia’s ear which caused her to laugh before she cleared her throat and answered Aryana’s question.

"It’s great, actually. I really appreciate that I’m spending my time with Lincoln and without anyone else, no drama in sight. We’re living our best life in the honeymoon suite, but we can’t wait to see another match join us, even though each match would have their own area in the house."

It sounded like a dream and for a brief moment, Clarke wished that she would be there as well, but coming back to senses, she realized that it would never happen anyway because the person she believed was her perfect match hated her and she didn’t have any intentions of being voted into the Truth Booth.

Why was she participating in this show again?

"That’s what we want to hear! Give the others a bit of motivation so that they maybe get a confirmed match next week, right?" The host questioned, now to the whole group again.

"We’re trying our best." Zeke muttered.

Aryana nodded slowly before she pointed to the spot in front of the podium. "Let’s start with Jasper," Everyone started clapping once again, Roan even whistled, while Jasper made his way towards the host, waving his hand around like the king or queen of England. Even Clarke couldn’t help but smile by the sight of it. "Alright, Jordan, how was your week?"

"It was good. Sure, on Monday we were still sad because Bellamy hadn’t been back from the hospital yet, but the whole week I spent my time with Maya and got to know her a lot better. It made click, boom, I guess."

Some of the people around Clarke laughed at that, but she could only smile. She was happy for Maya and her having settled for someone who seemed to really appreciate her. Clarke could see them being a couple for a long time, only if there were feelings involved, of course. They were adorable and the two of them deserved to have each other.

"Now that’s something I want to hear from everyone," Aryana said, smiling at the same time. "I guess you’re picking Maya as your match today as well?"

Jasper just nodded and turned around, smiling at Maya. The girl walked towards him and Aryana, giving Clarke the opportunity to chat a little with Emori. So she leaned over but kept her eyes on what was happening in front of her.

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Yes, sure. What is it?" Emori replied, asking her a question back.

Clarke turned her head to the side, greeted by her friend already looking at her. She knew she had to say something next, but before she did so, she turned her head over her shoulder and glanced at Bellamy first who was laughing because of something Miller just told him. She sighed then turned her attention back to Emori.

"Who should I pick tonight if I get called up… before Bellamy?"

Emori frowned but kept her voice low when she replied. "What do you mean, Clarke?"

The blonde nipped on her bottom lip for a while and focused on Lexa first, who was making her way to the podium and Aryana, definitely picking Costia as soon as the host asked her who her perfect match for the night was.

Clarke turned back to face Emori, who still had that confused look on her face, and swallowed slightly. "We’re in… a fight or something. I behaved like an idiot, he hates me, and now I have to pick someone else because I’m pretty sure that that’s what he’s going to do himself."

"Wait, what!?"

"Can you react a little bit quieter, please?" Clarke hissed, causing Emori to blink a couple of times then nod.

She turned her face around to the front and witnessed how Lexa and Costia made their way to one of the seats. Emori seemed to understand that Clarke wanted to wait until someone else was called up by Aryana and when the host called up Jackson, she was glad that it was just him.

As soon as he was standing in front of the podium, Clarke faced Emori again, who was looking at her already. Without giving her any chance to tell her friend a bit more information, Emori started talking again.

"Why the hell is everyone in a fight right now!? Weren’t you on a date on Friday? Fuck, Clarke, what happened?" Emori asked her.

Clarke just sighed and waved her off. "We can talk about that tomorrow, but please tell me who I should pick first."

"Jesus Christ." Emori turned her head to the front again and so did Clarke. They both started clapping, acting as if they were focusing on what was happening around them, while Luna walked down from the stage and made her way towards Jackson and Aryana.

"Please…"

Emori looked at Clarke again then nodded slightly before she spun her head around and swept her eyes over all the participants that were still standing on the stage with them. Clarke did the same, but it didn’t help her in any way. She still had no idea who she should pick without risking them having less matches than the week before and without getting in between any other relationships that were developed already. Unfortunately, that wasn’t as easy as she wanted it to be because everyone was already invested in another person.

"You don’t need to pick any of them," Clarke faced Emori again, frowning at the same time. "Just pick me."

_Oh._ She hadn’t thought of choosing Emori as her match, not because she didn’t like her or anything, she just forgot that they could actually choose whoever they wanted now. So, yeah, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. If Bellamy would pick someone else before her, she would take Emori as her match for the night. If it was the other way around, she would still do so because Raven was surely going to pick Murphy. That’s how friendship works.

"Alright, if you get called up before me, chose me. I’ll do the same if I get called up before you." Clarke told Emori and her friend nodded, grinning. The blonde then turned her head forward again, now focusing on the ceremony.

The next person who Aryana wanted to talk to was Roan, but the questions were nothing new. The host just wanted to know how things were going with Miller, since they sat together the week before as well, and if he actually believed that Miller was his perfect match. Roan just laughed and shrugged his shoulders, telling her that he was a great guy and there wasn’t any reason why he shouldn’t be. It was a little bit cheesy, but no one thought it was a bad thing to hear.

Obviously, after that, Roan had chosen him and they locked into the system before sitting down on one of the seats on the right side.

Afterwards, it was Harper’s turn. She told Aryana about how switching up the rooms was a good idea and how it helped her get closer to other people. She had been glad to get to know Monty better than she already had before and that she would pick him as her perfect match for the night.

Clarke frowned.

She knew that they were now sharing a room and sleeping in a bed together, but she hadn’t figured out yet, nor did she have the time to ask Monty, why. It confused her a lot; she really thought that they would keep going strong, but apparently Monty figured that they weren’t one of the beams they had before. It was sad, but for the sake of the game, they needed to focus on who was who’s match and not feelings.

In her own case, she had feelings for her perfect match but him feeling and thinking the same wasn’t an option.

Harper and Monty placed their hands on the monitor, locking as a match into the system and walking to the right stage, sitting down together in one seat.

"Alright," Aryana turned her attention back to her and the rest of the people who were standing on the left stage. "Bellamy, it’s your turn."

_Fuck._

This didn’t go as Clarke planned. If he wouldn’t pick her as his match… oh God, she didn’t even want to think about how she would react. She could see herself crying in front of everyone or leaving the winter garden completely. Clarke knew that it would come with a confrontation from Aryana’s side and she really wasn’t here for it.

Was there even the slightest possibility of Bellamy saying that she was his match for tonight? The only thing that gave her a little bit of hope was that they were still wishing each other _good morning_ and _goodnight,_ but besides that? They didn’t talk. They hadn’t talked and it really didn’t seem like they would for the next few days.

And who’s fault was it? _Echo’s…_ and her own fault.

"So, Bellamy. You’re back at the mansion and of course we want to know how it went. Have any headaches?" the host asked.

Bellamy laughed at first and Clarke was glad that she only saw his back but if that was really any better, no idea. He was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt that was tight enough for her to see his back muscles and as if he planned on making her suffer, he combined it with his black cargo pants, which were her favorite and made his butt look great as well.

She hated him.

Clarke Griffin hated Bellamy Blake.

_Wrong._

Clarke Griffin hated that she was in love with Bellamy Blake and was dumb enough to hurt his ‘feelings’.

"Just once, though. I can’t really tell how good it went, but hopefully with this ceremony, we’ll find out. The challenge turned out positive for us, even though we didn’t get Lexa and Costia confirmed as a match, and other than that… well."

_Well_ … Hopefully he wouldn’t tell anyone about what happened between them, but this only worked out if Aryana wouldn’t ask about their romantic dinner which was impossible.

And Clarke had to be right.

"Since you were the leader of team red, you won the dinner and picked Clarke to go with you. How was it? Anything you want to share with us?" the host asked.

Bellamy shifted on his feet, then turned around and, as it always seemed to happen, their eyes met. He just blinked a few times while Clarke herself was chewing on her bottom lip. She knew Bellamy well enough to know that he wasn’t the type of person who just talked openly about problems, especially not when it was something between him and another person. Yet, right now, she had no idea if he really wouldn’t say anything because the chances that he would choose someone else as his match for the night were high.

He cleared his throat and teared his gaze away from her, which helped her breathe again, and answered Aryana’s question.

"Not really. I want that to stay between me and Clarke, to be honest."

Emori nudged Clarke in her side, whereupon the blonde turned around to face her friend. Emori had a wrinkle placed between her eyebrows, but all Clarke did was shrug her shoulders in response.

"Well… am I expecting you to chose her for today?" The host asked and all Clarke wanted to do was cover her ears with her hands, but she couldn’t.

She should have a little bit of hope shouldn’t she?

"Actually…" _Cool._ He cleared his throat. "I’m choosing Sasha as my perfect match."

Clarke nodded slowly, trying to keep herself from doing lots of things at the same time. Crying was an option because he _really_ didn’t pick her. Getting mad at Sasha was another option for even agreeing to Bellamy picking her if they talked about it before. It reminded her of the fact that Sasha wanted to talk him and maybe that was exactly what it had been about. Great.

For whatever reason, Clarke turned out to be mad instead of depressed and sad, especially when Sasha made her way towards Bellamy and their arms were brushing against one another’s. She narrowed her eyes at them and for a brief moment, she thought about going off on Sasha.

"Calm down, Clarke…" The blonde turned her head to Emori, but she wasn’t looking at her at all. Instead, her friend had her eyes fixed on what was happening in front of her and responded to Emori without giving her any kind of attention otherwise. "It’s just one ceremony."

"Says the one who’s pissed at Murphy because he’s with Raven now."

_Now_ Emori spun her head around and raised her eyebrow. Just by seeing that, Clarke felt bad immediately and parted her lips to apologize, but she was interrupted by Aryana calling her Name.

"Clarke, you’re on."

Emori just smiled softly and tilted her head to the direction of the podium, whereupon Clarke walked to the host herself. She had no idea what her question for the day would be or if she even had to say anything, but she hoped for the latter.

"Surprised?"

Of course it happened.

"No," She shrugged her shoulders. "I’m not."

"Why?" Aryana questioned, furrowing her brows a little, while tilting her head to the side.

Clarke sighed. "I don’t want to talk about it, but instead I am going to chose someone as my match."

The host nodded then pointed to the stage behind her. "Then who do you pick?"

Clarke turned around and smiled at Emori, who’s lips curled upwards as well, then made her way towards her and Aryana. As soon as Clarke faced the host again, she could see how surprised she was by them wanting to lock into the system together. However, she started smiling after a few seconds and motioned them to do so.

Emori placed her hand on the monitor first, then Clarke did the same and they waited for a brief moment until they were locked in. After, they walked together to the seat area and as hard as Clarke was trying to not peak over at Bellamy and Sasha, she did anyways and was glad neither of them were  looking in her direction.

"So…" Emori started before they sat down next to each other on the seat, speaking quietly. "Do I get to know what the fuck is happening between you guys!?"

"I told you, I’ll tell you tomorrow, is that okay? I really don’t want to go through it all over again."

Emori sighed but moved her head a little, showing her that she understood and would wait for her to be ready to talk about it again.

"Fine," Her friend squeezed her shoulder, whereupon Clarke faced her once again. "But know that I’m always here for you, alright? Remember the test, hm?"

Oh yes, Clarke remembered and she couldn’t be more grateful for Emori being there for her in that moment. She would be dying at this point if she had figured out that she was pregnant with Bellamy’s child, especially now.

Clarke smiled at Emori, before she turned her attention back to what was happening in front of her. Finn and Wells were currently locking into the system and it confused her so much, she couldn’t even find words. Sure, Wells was bisexual and he could chose a guy as his match, absolutely, but Finn wasn’t.

Great. They would leave this matching ceremony with _less_ beams than they had last week. Was it surprising? Not really.

Murphy was the next one to pick someone as his match and at this point, it didn’t surprise Clarke that he didn’t even think much and just choose Raven. Worst thing about it all was that Zeke was still standing on the stage, just like Echo, and instead of keeping it a secret that Murphy had _something_ going on with Raven, they kissed right in front of everyone. Clarke could only shake her head and turn to Emori to see what expression she had on her face. But instead of finding jealousy or anger, there was nothing, just a pure blank facial expression.

Dammit.

Clarke wished she could be so tolerant and nonchalant about Echo’s existence, but no, she had to be the jealous one. Disgusting.

In the end, Zeke had to pair up with Echo which was really the last thing that should have happened. Zeke was way too nice for her and now he had to lock into the system with her, only because Raven figured that Murphy was her match and not Zeke.

Clarke really hoped that Raven knew what she was doing. There was nothing worse than hating someone else’s feelings.

"Now that we’re done," Aryana started, turning everyone’s attention back to her, "We get to the most important part of this ceremony: the beams. As per usual…," One beam lit up behind her before she continued talking, “You already have one beam since you guys figured that Lincoln and Octavia are a match. Sadly, they are the only match you have confirmed and we’re about to start week seven. You’re already working together, trying as best as you can, but as you can see, it’s not working well. Most of your competitors are going their own way even though you had a strategy, so l heard. Let’s see if who you chose today was a good idea or a bad one." With that, Aryana turned around and the light went off.

If Clarke had to guess how many beams they would get, she had to say one other beam, so two in general since Octavia and Lincoln’s was already lit up.

Yep, she thought that every pair was wrong except from Lexa and Costia and she couldn’t wait to be proven right. Every other couple that was sitting together right now didn’t really make sense to her, perhaps Jasper and Maya were one as well, but she had no idea. At this point, she really wouldn’t be surprised if they only got one.

_Then one beam lit up._

The whole group started clapping once again, not as loud as usual and that showed her that she wasn’t the only one thinking that today wouldn’t end up good for them. Perhaps it was because they hadn’t had another conversation as a group with Monty and Raven, or they were just really stupid.

"Okay, let’s be serious," Clarke whispered to Emori without taking her gaze away from the beams. "How many do you think we’ll get?"

Emori let out a quiet snicker and for some reason, it made her smile. "Maybe one… yeah, another one and that’s it. I don’t think that there is any other one we would get. So three."

"Oh? Well…" Clarke laughed silently, "Let’s see if you’re right."

"Mhm," was everything Emori said in response before they both stopped talking.

That didn’t mean that others weren’t having conversations. Even from where she was sitting, she could hear _his_ voice, but couldn’t figure out what exactly he was saying. She shouldn’t mind, she really shouldn’t, but because of what she was feeling, she couldn’t act like she didn’t care about him or what he was thinking of her.

Luckily, her thoughts were interrupted the moment everyone started clapping their hands together again and the _third beam of eleven_ lit up. Lincoln and Octavia, another pair, and some other couple. Clarke wished she knew who the other two were, but that was only possible when sitting with the rest of the group and figuring it out together.

"I told you," Emori started. "Three beams. There’s not another one coming."

Clarke sighed. She wanted to have hope, believe that they were better than just getting three beams after they got seven the week before, but her general mood was so low that she couldn’t think positive about anything happening around her.

So when the light turned on again and Aryana faced the whole group, she wasn’t surprised by the result. After this week, she hadn’t expected anything else. Still, the host’s facial expression made her sit up correctly because she knew what was about to come:

A bomb.

"I don’t know what exactly is going on in your minds, but what you’re doing right now is probably the worst thing we’ve ever witnessed in AYTO history. You came from seven beams… to three. _Three! Beams!_ I have no idea how you did that, but maybe you should look around you, see who's sitting next to each other, and mark in your mind that these pairs should never sit together again, ever! You’re seventh week is starting tomorrow, by now I thought you were actually looking for your perfect match, developing real feelings, and knew this game well enough to know how things should go, but apparently it’s not like that. What you guys are doing here is weak. Bad entertainment even. Get your shit together and stop having random fights and sex with everyone you think is attractive. Now go home, go to bed, and sleep over it before you sit down tomorrow and talk about what happened tonight. Have a goodnight."

Aryana didn’t even wait for any of them to say something in defense and if Clarke was being honest, there wasn’t anything they could’ve said. It was the worst thing that could’ve happened, even though she had already expected it, and if they wouldn’t fix their shit, they would end up losing the money _and_ the extra cash they had wanted so badly.

At this point, Clarke had no idea which week was the worst of them all because in each one, terrible things happened. She only wanted everything to be over by now and thought of just giving up.

She had thought that her birthday wish would come true by the end of the tenth week but right now she knew that it wouldn’t.

In conclusion: everything sucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who can guess what's coming as pre-christmas chapter? 
> 
> as per usual, comments and kudos are appreciated!  
> \- just wanted to add that i love seeing you guys predict what is coming next and look at everything from different perspectives. couldn't be more grateful to have such amazing readers like you guys! 
> 
> much love xo


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> took us long enough to get here.

Week 7, Day 40 – Monday. Los Angeles. 8.50 pm.

Clarke missed spending time with Emori. She had been one of the first people Clarke got to know and grew close to, but they both had been focusing a lot on finding their perfect match and staying with Bellamy or Murphy instead of spending time together. The funny thing about it all was that the guys were the reason they were now hanging out with each other again.

Still, Clarke noticed that it was different than usual.

They didn’t have to talk about some important topic, such as the possibility of her being pregnant, and could focus on other stuff instead, which was much more personal. Emori told Clarke about her tattoo studio, which she had opened after she received her certificate as a hairstylist, and that she was planning on moving into another building where she would have much more space than she had currently. Clarke liked the idea and encouraged her to do so if they ended up winning the million dollars _and_ the extra cash. Her mentioning this brought up a new topic, too.

"What do you want to do with your part of the money?" Emori asked Clarke.

The blonde furrowed her brows together then smiled softly. "Let me think."

"Take your time, though. I wouldn’t know what to do with almost 55,000 thousand either."

Clarke laughed the moment Emori mentioned the exact amount each of them would get and laid down on her back, placing her feet on the mattress while looking up at the ceiling.

She had no idea what she would do with such an amount of money. There was no reason for her to keep it all to herself because she had enough already and didn’t have anything in mind that she considered buying anytime soon. There wasn’t a big wish of hers so answering Emori was quite easy.

"Put it in my bank accounts as savings, I guess." Clarke said, turning her head to the side so that she was facing her friend again, who was now laying on her back as well.

"What do you mean? Don’t tell me _this_ is what you consider doing with all that money!?"

Clarke shrugged her shoulders and faced the ceiling again. "What am I gonna do with 50,000 dollars? The only thing I see myself using it for is switching up my apartment or something similar to that."

"Oh my God," Emori sat up immediately after Clarke had mentioned her moving into another apartment. It confused the blonde because she didn’t understand what was so wrong with her thinking of moving out of the apartment she was living in right now. She was paying too much for it anyway. "Where do you live again?"

"Manhattan, New York. Why?" Clarke asked, wrinkle still placed between her eyebrows, while sitting up as well.

Emori smiled, which turned into a grin some seconds later, and wiggled her eyebrows. Clarke really had no idea what was going on in her friend’s mind and she wasn’t so sure if she even wanted to know what it was. Perhaps, she had some dark ideas in her mind… _or_ Emori thought of moving in with her.

"Wait a second. Are you planning on moving to New York? Is that what I should get from you asking? And the fact that you want to have your tattoo studio in another building… Oh my God, Emori!"

The brunette stopped smiling and shook her head, furrowing her brows at the same time. "No, you idiot. I wanted to ask you where Bellamy lives. Didn’t he say Brooklyn or something? The Bronx? I don’t remember."

_Oh. Oh no. No, nope._

"Don’t even," Clarke started, narrowing her eyes at Emori. She instead begun grinning once again. "I swear to God, Emori, stop grinning like that; it annoys me. It’s never going to happen. I don’t want it to happen and neither does he. He doesn’t even like me."

Emori snorted. "He doesn’t like you? You’re a dumbass, Clarke. Really. Of course he likes you! Just because you two have indifferences right now doesn’t mean that he has no interest in you at all. Do I need to remind you what he did for your birthday? A friend wouldn’t do that. _I_ wouldn’t do that for you, sorry."

Clarke sighed. She was aware of Bellamy liking her, but only in a friendly way. That didn’t mean that he was interested in dating her, in love with her, or not mad at her for what she had done last Friday. She still felt bad for it and began to consider if she shouldn’t apologize to him for what she had said. Although there was no particular reason for her to really apologize, in her opinion, she knew there was no other way for them to fix their issues and talk to each other again. They were still saying nothing other than _good morning_ and _goodnight_ and it was starting to make her feel depressed and lonely.

Yes. That’s what she was.

Depressed and lonely.

"Clarke…" The blonde turned her face back to Emori who now had a worried look on her face. "Listen to me. I don’t know what exactly happened between the two of you since you haven’t told me about it, but I’m smart… sometimes. I can tell that there’s definitely chemistry, trust, respect, you share the same humor. Ugh, Clarke, I could go on. It’s obvious that you’re a match and anyone who thinks differently is an idiot."

"Echo thinks she’s Bellamy’s match."

Silence. Emori didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity and Clarke just kept staring at the ceiling. She wasn’t even sure if Echo really believed that she was Bellamy’s match, but the way she was behaving screamed that she thought exactly that. Maybe she was, though. Clarke had no clue, but if Bellamy would start thinking so as well, she would leave this show before it even ended.

"…Did she say that?" Emori asked quietly, but the tone of her voice made it obvious that she was about to burst out in laughter.

Clarke just shrugged her shoulders in response and didn’t bother answering her question. It didn’t matter if she said it out loud or if she was only thinking so. Right now, she was the reason why everything between her and Bellamy was shit and if Echo wouldn’t back the fuck off, Clarke would go off on her without any doubt.

"Oh my God. She really believes that? I-" Emori snorted. "Can you please tell me what the fuck happened?"

Clarke sighed but told her anyway, reminding her of the drama they had in the waiting room of the hospital, which Emori re-called, to her visiting Bellamy and now being friends with him. Not to forget that she was helping him pick out his outfit for _her_ romantic dinner with him and not Echo’s dinner. There hadn’t been a reason for her to do so and for him to even take her advice. Emori only laughed at that, cringing because of Echo’s behavior.

Still, when Clarke told her about their dinner and how it went, Emori stopped showing any kind of expression, especially when Clarke mentioned how she admitted that she thought she was less important than Echo. To be honest, she knew that wasn’t true. Bellamy didn’t care that much about Echo that she was more important to him than she was, but at that moment, she felt anger towards the other girl and sadness because of how Bellamy didn’t seem to have a problem with Echo when she was literally the issue.

Clarke hated this, but other than listening to Emori and her advice, there wasn’t anything else to do… although there was.

"Okay, look. I see why you were saying that to him, why you were angry and sad. It makes sense, yeah? But it obviously hurt him, as you know yourself, so you have to apologize, even if you think it’s Echo’s fault and that you’re in the right, you know? Bellamy’s not going to start talking to you again as long as you keep thinking that what you were doing was correct. From the outside, he seems to be fine, that I can say, but he clearly isn’t. He goes to bed earlier, cooks the easiest meals for everyone, and has started reading more again. It could be because he’s trying to avoid headaches, but we both know it isn’t. So… just maybe think of a way to apologize without just saying sorry."

Clarke listened to Emori the whole time, not saying a word, and her friend was right. Of course she believed that her being mad because of Echo getting in between them was her right, but she was also the one who even let Echo step between them. If she hadn’t acted out of jealousy and felt threatened by her in the first place, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Clearly, she had to make up for it, but she wasn’t so sure as to how.

"Mhm…" The blonde rose up from the bed and walked over to the window, crossing her arms in front of her breasts after pulling the curtains away from it. "Maybe… you’re right. I went too far; I know it and I want to make it better again. Just… let me think of something."

"Well, you’re welcome but it would be nice if you turned to me so we-"

Clarke held her left hand up to stop Emori from talking, which surprisingly worked. She wasn’t that creative whereas she could come up with something big and fancy yet, but she wanted to do something that would show Bellamy that she was really sorry. There wasn’t much in her mind that she could do, especially because they were still on a Dating Show and it couldn’t involve too much planning either.

She just wanted something simple yet meaningful. Something… that described them, that would be for them only and change things between them in a positive way.

Something like…

"I have it!" Clarke spun around on her heels and genuinely smiled at Emori. "I know what I’m going to do, but I’ll need your help for one of these things."

Emori blinked a couple of times then nodded and got up from the bed as well. She then walked over to Clarke and tilted her head to the side before mimicking the blonde, folding her arms in front of her chest as well.

"Tell me." Emori demanded, but Clarke shook her head, still smiling.

"No, I won’t tell you. I’m going to get back to you as soon as I have everything I need. Thank you for helping me." She pulled Emori in a hug, which clearly surprised her but didn’t stop her from returning it anyway.

Even though Clarke wasn’t that good at some of the things she had planned, she was excited for it and Bellamy’s reaction.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 7, Day 41 – Tuesday. Los Angeles. 10 am.

_ Camera Room _ _– Clarke_

The blonde sat down on the couch, cross-legged, as soon as she pressed record on the camera. She had a goofy smile on her face and for several reasons.

 _"Good morning boys and girls. I have great news."_ She shifted a bit on the cushion before she placed her hands on her ankles, holding onto them while shaking her legs. _"I realized that I made a big mistake last Friday so I wanted to make things better again. I’m not so… professional with all the details of what I have planned, you’re going to see, but whatever it takes to make a person feel good again, right?"_

And Clarke was pretty sure that it was going to work out. However, she still needed the go ahead.

_"So, I talked to the camera team after I got up and ready for the day and our host is coming today because I need to talk to her. You guys don’t need to worry, I’m not leaving the show, even though I was close to doing so because of a certain person."_

Clarke shook her head, still smiling at the same time. This shouldn’t be about Echo.

 _"Anyway…"_ she got up from the couch and walked closer to the camera, holding up her wrist with the bracelet Bellamy had given her, the sun and the moon still hanging onto it. _"Remember that I showed you this, guys, maybe you’ll get the hint. See ya."_

With that, Clarke stopped the recording then turned off the camera, her lips still curling upward. She couldn’t and wouldn’t stop smiling, especially not if Aryana would let her do what she had planned for Bellamy. To be honest, Clarke didn’t think that the host would say no to it, but there was still a chance of her doing so. She could only hope that it was going to work out.

Clarke needed it, otherwise her whole plan would crash down.

# # # # # # # # # #

2 pm.

"Is that enough salt or do you want me to add more?"

Bellamy lifted his gaze from the last utensils he had to clean and turned his head over his shoulder, looking at Wells who was standing in front of the stove. He smiled lightly then tilted his head, motioning to bring over the spoon he was holding in his hand.

Wells didn’t say anything when he walked over to his side and stopped right next to him. Bellamy raised one of his eyebrows, waiting for Wells to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he just lifted the spoon up until it was right in front of Bellamy’s mouth.

He just smirked slightly before leaning forward and tasted the sauce Wells cooked instead of doing it himself so he could take care of the prepping for dessert.

Bellamy pulled away and licked the rest of the sauce from his lips, frowning a little but not for long. He started nodding slowly then fixed his gaze on Wells again and smiled lightly.

"It’s good, though. You could add something to spice it up, but it’s not needed. I don’t know if the others are able to handle something hot, so."

"Okay," Wells started turning around to walk back to the stove but Bellamy placed his hand on his wrist, stopping him. "Yeah?"

"Did you taste it yourself? You’re the one who made the sauce. Just because I gave you the recipe doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to make your own thing out of it." Bellamy stated.

Wells laughed slightly then shrugged his shoulders. "You’re the chef, not me."

"Yet you’re the one who made it," Bellamy replied, lifting one of his brows again. "Taste it."

Wells kept looking at him for a while, as if he just said something super strange, then lifted the spoon himself and tasted the sauce he made. Wells then turned around which Bellamy mimicked and continued cleaning the dishes.

"Maybe a bit of spice wouldn’t be that bad," Wells admitted, causing Bellamy to start smirking once again.

"I told you."

Wells laughed in response which caused Bellamy’s smirk to turn into a smile. He was glad that other people could still make him feel well and that he didn’t think so much about what had happened with Clarke. Still, it came back into his mind as soon as he was alone, such as in the shower or close to falling asleep, and saying that it didn’t hurt him anymore was a lie.

"Hello, hello. I smell some good food. Hasn’t lunch time passed already?"

Bellamy spun his head around and took a step back from the counter the moment he heard Aryana’s voice. It surprised him a lot that she was there, on a Tuesday, and he definitely wasn’t the only one who hadn’t expected her to come.

"Aryana!? What are you doing here?" Raven asked from the couch, whereupon the host just shrugged her shoulders with a smile on her face.

"You don’t seem to be particularly glad about my visit." she stated.

Bellamy shook his head, still smiling, before he shouted in her direction since she wasn’t standing near him. "You coming here has a meaning. You would never come to see us for free."

His comment made the host laugh but he was being serious. The group only saw her whenever they had a challenge, the Truth Booth, or at the Matching Ceremony. Her being there for the beach party was different and had been a one time thing anyway, so it was weird that she was now here.

But of course it had a reason.

"Yeah, well. I’m sorry that I can’t be around you more often, but these are the rules. I’m here for Clarke. Has anybody seen her?"

Clarke?

Bellamy frowned.

Why would Aryana come here only for Clarke? Or did Clarke want something from the host? Both options made him worry about what was going on with Clarke. She was really important to him, them not talking at the moment wouldn’t change that, so instead of not answering Aryana and acting as if he didn’t care, he decided to respond instead.

"The last time I saw her, she was doing the laundry. Though that was half, maybe a full hour ago."

Raven turned her head over her shoulder, looking at him from her seat on the couch, frowning. Bellamy just teared his gaze away from her and focused on Aryana instead, but even the host had a wrinkle between her eyebrows. Them hearing that he hadn’t seen Clarke for a while surprised them and he could understand. Usually, they were around each other the whole day, only separated when one of them needed to go to the toilet, but since Friday, things were different.

"Okay… thanks for the answer. I’ll just wait outside for her." The host said with a smile on her face before she left them, the camera team not following her at all. It confused Bellamy but he couldn’t have time to think much about it because Wells interrupted his thoughts by talking to him again.

"Everything fine between you two?" he asked quietly.

Bellamy just sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, yeah, everything’s good."

_Liar._

Wells nodded slowly then smiled at him before he turned back to add spice to his sauce. Bellamy watched him for a second, then turned around and placed his hands on the counter, staring at the dishes he still had to finish cleaning up.

It all hurt him more than he thought before and he didn’t like this situation at all. The only thing Bellamy wanted was to go look for Clarke and make her talk to him so that they could forget about what happened and just go back to normal. But what even was normal?

Bellamy closed his eyes and exhaled. _It_ wasn’t a secret to him anymore and he really wanted to believe that her reaction to him and Echo was because… God, he couldn’t and didn’t want to think about it. It would just lead him in the wrong direction and that definitely could not happen.

So instead of letting his thoughts keep himself from doing the things he was supposed to do, he got back to cleaning.

He didn’t turn around when he heard Clarke coming back from the laundry room, making herself noticeable when Raven told her that Aryana was waiting for her outside. He didn’t turn around when Wells asked him if he was sure that he was okay and just held his hand up to show him that he was.

But in fact, he wasn’t.

# # # # # # # # # #

3 pm.

The talk with Aryana was successful.

Clarke was still smiling after the host had left the house and she closed the door behind Aryana. She actually thought that nothing would go the way she wanted anymore, but the host promised her that she would make sure that everything for her surprise for Bellamy would work out.

The only thing that was missing was him talking to her again.

An hour ago she had come back from doing the laundry and what she had seen from him was his back, nothing else. She understood that she hurt him, that’s exactly why she was doing all of this, but him not being able to look at her anymore made her feel incredibly sad.

But she decided to not let it kill her mood so instead, she turned away from the door and walked the three steps down to the living room where Raven was already waiting for her with a curious look on her face. Clarke just shook her head and smiled, passing the couch and making her way to the kitchen instead.

"No! No, Clarke, this time I’m not letting you do this with me!" Raven shouted and Clarke could hear her jumping up from the couch.

The blonde just laughed and walked to the fridge, passing Bellamy and Wells who were now sitting on the bar stools at the kitchen island, waiting for their lasagna to be ready. She didn’t want to look at Bellamy, she tried not to, but as soon as she was hidden a bit by the fridge door, she peaked at him, but he wasn’t looking at her, at all. His eyes were fixed on the book he was reading, with his arms crossed and placed on the island, his curls falling into his eyes. Clarke wanted to carefully push them away then lean forward and-

"Clarke! Hello!?"

"Huh?" She turned her head to Raven who was now standing next to her with her arms crossed in front of her breasts. "Sorry…"

Raven shook her head. "First you’re smiling like an idiot because of whatever you talked about with Aryana and then you drift off looking at…," she cleared her throat before she continued quietly, "I just want to know if everything’s fine? You haven’t talk to him in days, you’re without him the whole day I… am I missing something?"

Clarke sighed. She wanted to tell her friend what was really going on but she had no intention of everyone finding out and then gossiping about it. There was one person who would take advantage of the current situation Bellamy and she were in and it actually surprised her that she hadn’t until now.

"It’s fine, don’t worry. I had a great talk with Aryana and I want to keep it to myself if… what?" Clarke frowned lightly when Raven took a step backwards and stopped looking at her but at something behind her. "What?"

Raven cleared her throat a second time and because Clarke knew that she wouldn’t answer, she just turned around herself and blinked a couple of times when she noticed that Bellamy was standing behind her.

"Oh…" she said quietly, swallowing lightly. "Um… what’s up?"

"Can we talk for a minute?" Clarke blinked a few times again before she nodded slowly. Bellamy didn’t give her any time to add something and just turned around, making his way out of the kitchen and into the hallway instead, not looking back at her once.

Clarke turned her head to Raven who just motioned her to follow him already so that’s what she did in the end. She had no idea what he wanted from her, but it was better than not talking to him at all, she thought. In that moment, it was the only thing she wanted: to have a normal conversation with him.

Bellamy stopped in front of the bathroom on the first floor and knocked first. When no one answered, he pulled the door open and faced her, waiting for her to step inside. She wasn’t sure if having a conversation on the toilet was a great setting, but better than nothing.

Clarke walked inside and strolled towards the counter. She turned around and jumped on top of it, placing her hands in her lap and watched him close the door behind him. Bellamy turned around and just looked at her for a while before he slid his fingers through his curls, messing them up a little bit, then walked to the counter as well and stopped right in front of her.

It gave her a serious déjà vu that she shouldn’t have in their current position.

Bellamy placed his hands next to her thighs and for a second, she swept her eyes to them, frowning because this wasn’t supposed to happen. They were too close now, which didn’t fit to their relationship at the moment, and it made her nervous. Yes, she had a surprise for him and was ready to apologize, but this wasn’t the way she wanted it to go.

"I want you to know that I’m always here for you even if we’re… not talking to each other right now. I have no clue why you had to talk to Aryana but I can imagine why you did. Just… don’t leave the show because of what happened between us?"

Clarke pulled her head back, still frowning.

Bellamy thought that the reason she wanted to talk to the host was because she wanted to leave the show? Okay, it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought of it before, but he was so wrong. So, so wrong. Clarke wished she could tell him, say what she had planned for him, but it wasn’t a surprise for no reason.

"I didn’t talk to her because I wanted to leave the show…"

Bellamy’s face relaxed again before he nodded slowly, looking down instead of keeping the eye contact. She had no idea what that meant, if he was surprised by it or if he actually had to smile because she told him so.

It was still weird to have an actual conversation with him. On top of that, she hadn’t expected him to make the first move towards her, especially after he told her at the dinner that she could come back to him when she was done behaving like a five-year-old. At this point, she wasn’t so sure what all of this meant, she really had no clue, but before she would start turning this conversation into a fight again, she needed to leave the room.

"Is that all?" she asked quietly.

Bellamy lifted his head again and met her gaze instead. Clarke wanted to tear hers away but she knew that she had a weakness for his eyes, actually for his face and him in general, so she didn’t. She just kept holding his gaze and so did he.

Some seconds passed before she noticed how he briefly swept his eyes to her lips, only to look back into her eyes a second later. Clarke thought this was a sign that he was about to lean in and kiss her but…

…of course he didn’t.

"Yeah," Bellamy answered, standing up correctly and taking his hands off the counter. "That’s all I wanted to tell you."

"Okay."

"Alright."

They kept looking at each other for a while before Bellamy cleared his throat and turned around a little bit so that he was standing in front of her now, sideways.

"I’m gonna leave then if you don’t have anything to say?"

Clarke was aware that he was trying to make her apologize, but she wouldn’t do it for two reasons. First, it wasn’t time yet and she started thinking that he should apologize as well for being close to Echo. She knew that all he was trying to do was get along with everyone, but he had to understand that he hurt her as well.

Still, she decided against apologizing and telling him that he had to as well.

"No, I don’t have anything to say," she muttered.

Bellamy nodded before he turned around completely and made his way to the door without saying a word. Clarke followed him with her eyes and started chewing on her bottom lip. She could feel how much she hurt him and it made her feel even worse, but it wasn’t time yet. She wanted it to all be perfect, especially with the way she had planned it out.

So when Bellamy sighed and pulled the door open, she didn’t stop him from leaving. She just let him go, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone in the bathroom.

Her waiting for the right moment had to be worth it, otherwise she would hate herself forever and could never forgive herself for what she had done already.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 7, Day 42 – Wednesday. Los Angeles. 2 am.

Bellamy placed his glass of water on the table, right next to his right thigh, still looking out of the window and watching the raindrops land on the terrace outside of the house. It shocked him that it was raining right now, but it kind of fit to the whole vibe of the week and his mindset.

To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he _really_ wanted to spend the night thinking about what was going on inside of him instead of getting some sleep and rest. However, he had no other choice. Time was running out and soon the group had to sit down together once again to talk about how they wanted to match up at the next ceremony.

And that was were his problem began.

Last week, Bellamy had chosen Sasha as his perfect match, knowing that she wasn’t his. Sasha herself had been surprised by him picking her and had asked him why he did that as soon as they sat down on one of the seats. Of course, he didn’t want to get too deep in explaining what happened between him and Clarke, but at this point, everyone had something in mind already. Still, he had only told Sasha that they wanted to try something out and had talked about it with Monty before.

_Liar._

He wouldn’t be able to get around picking Clarke as his match this week again, otherwise the looks some of the participants would give him wouldn’t be the last thing he had to deal with. Yes, Miller had already confronted him a tiny bit but until now, he had gotten around telling him the truth. However, he knew that Octavia would be visiting them anytime soon and he surely wouldn’t be able to avoid _her_ confronting him.

So before that, he had to gather his thoughts in the best way possible. Therefore, he had to sit in front of the window, in the dark, only listening to the raindrops falling on the terrace and a glass of water. Actually… wine would be much better.

Bellamy tilted his head to the side.

_Wine?_

_Wine._

He jumped up from the table and walked over to the kitchen, pulling the cabinet open where they stored all the alcoholic beverages. He didn’t even look for one specific type of wine, instead just took a bottle he saw. It didn’t matter to him if it was open already or not.

After that, he closed the cabinet again and turned around, placing the bottle on the island next to the stove.

Bellamy didn’t know how long he was staring at it, with his elbows laying on the counter left and right of the bottle, but he knew that he wasn’t reading anything that was written on it. His mind was playing games with him again and reminded him of how he and Clarke had decided against drinking wine at their dinner because they didn’t want it to be _romantic_.

_Fuck that._

He pushed himself away from the counter and turned around again, opening another cupboard of which he took a wine glass. At this point, he didn’t care if he closed the door too loudly and if he would wake anybody up by shutting it. He was in a bad state of mind and didn’t bother being quiet.

Maybe that was the reason why he didn’t stay alone for long.

"Take one for me as well."

Bellamy turned around and lifted one of his eyebrows the moment he saw Roan jumping up on the counter across from him, right next to his wine. The only reason why he was able to recognize him was because the door to the balcony wasn’t covered by anything so the light coming from outside was helping him a little. Still, it surprised him that he was the one showing up in the middle of the night and decided to drink wine with him.

Questionable.

"Do I want to know what you’re doing here or should I just not care and give you a glass?" Bellamy asked, leaning his ass against the counter and folding his arms in front of his chest.

Roan shrugged his shoulders. "Your choice."

Bellamy nodded slowly but didn’t move for a good minute. He hadn’t talked to Roan in a while and he wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to. The chances were high that he would ask him what he was doing down here himself and then he had to tell Roan about his issues with Clarke and he told himself to not tell anybody. However… if he wouldn’t give Roan a glass, he would get to ask his question as well.

What a dilemma.

So instead of talking much, he just turned around once again and picked another glass out of the cupboard, closing it again before he faced Roan and handed it to him.

"You better fill them both since you’re sitting next to the bottle."

"Don’t worry, I gotcha." Roan took the glasses from him and placed them to the left of his thigh before he reached for the bottle and filled both their glasses with wine.

Bellamy watched him as he did and slowly started thinking of what he should talk with him about. He hated having normal conversations, especially when he wasn’t even planning on _really_ getting to know the other person, but he didn’t want to sit in silence either.

So when Roan handed him his glass and Bellamy took it away from him, he took a sip of his wine first before he started a topic he probably shouldn’t have.

"How’s the search going?" Bellamy asked quietly, keeping his gaze fixed on the guy across from him.

Roan shrugged his shoulders and drank a bit of his wine before answering his question.

"It’s not really searching, don’t you think?" Bellamy raised his eyebrow again but didn’t say anything in response. Apparently, what Roan had asked wasn’t supposed to be a real question either because he continued talking again, not waiting for him to answer. "Currently thinking it’s Miller, but I’m not one hundred percent sure about it."

"Guessed that." Bellamy replied then brought his glass back to his lips, taking another sip. Roan kept looking at him while he was doing so and Bellamy started thinking that this conversation wouldn’t lead to anything good.

Roan had already tried to hit on him some weeks ago and the way he replied to his question of who he thought was his perfect match only indicated that he had someone else in mind.

Bellamy hoped that Roan didn’t mean him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like him or anything, he just didn’t see any reason for why they should be a match. At all. Maybe he should start that topic himself before Roan would try something again, which Bellamy definitely didn’t want to happen. It was bad enough that Echo got in between him and Clarke; he didn’t want Roan to be the next one.

"Listen," Bellamy begun, placing his glass of wine on the counter next to him. "I haven’t forgotten about what you told me some weeks ago and we hadn’t had the time to talk about it either. Perhaps we should do that now?"

Bellamy could see Roan frowning which cause him to furrow his brows together as well.

Did he say something wrong?

Hadn’t Roan been the one who told him loud and clear that he wanted to do more than just kissing with him? No, that definitely had been Roan so Bellamy couldn’t understand what confused him about his statement. Maybe Roan forgot about it, he had no idea.

"Mhm, I mean it leads to something I’ve wanted to ask you for days now, so sure, why not."

"You wanted to ask me something for days? What?" Now Bellamy was the one with confusion written on his face.

Roan laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "You want to know?"

"Um? Yeah? That’s literally why I asked you that." Bellamy uttered.

"Interesting…" _What?_ "I’m pretty sure you thought I was obsessed with you or something. Am I right?"

Actually… Bellamy hadn’t thought about Roan in that way but his behavior slightly irritated him back in the day. He basically had gotten mad at Clarke just because she had been the one who constantly was by his side and on top of that, Roan hadn’t been able to get their kiss out of his mind. It was weird knowing so in the week that it happened and still was.

"I mean… I wouldn’t call it being obsessed, but you can’t deny that making such a fuss because of one kiss is irritating?"

Roan laughed once again and for some reason it offended Bellamy. He wasn’t the one who came downstairs and told him to get another glass. Roan wanted to talk to him first so he shouldn’t be laughing at things he wanted to get out of the way. Dammit.

"You’re smart, though. I’ll give you that." Before Roan continued, he took another gulp of his wine which caused Bellamy to lose a little bit of his patience.

"I don’t have time throughout the whole night but keep sipping slowly," he mumbled.

"Someone’s irritated."

"Maybe."

"Alright,” Roan placed his glass away and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I wasn’t obsessed with you and I didn’t want to have sex with you either."

Bellamy frowned, pulling his head back at the same time. "Are you kidding me?"

"Let me finish what I’m trying to say, Blake." Bellamy motioned him to keep going before he reached for his own glass. "By the time we started fighting with Clarke, I already knew you two were a perfect match. I said right from the beginning that I’m a matchmaker and that I can easily identify who belongs to who and who’s in love. But neither you nor Clarke wanted to admit that what you guys had from the start wasn’t just sex, but more than that, even if you didn’t have any feelings by that time. Sidenote, you definitely do now."

Bellamy snorted and shook his head but didn’t interrupt Roan either.

"The only reason why I tried to hit on you was to see if you would actually give ‘us’ a chance or if you would keep having fun with Clarke and being close to her. Now we both know how it ended and I’m pretty sure by now you know why you didn’t start anything with me, or anything with anybody else in the group. Maybe you don’t want to admit it, maybe you have already thought of it yourself but don’t want to say it out loud, but like I said… there’s a reason why you didn’t get back to me and why you didn’t have sex with anybody other than Griffin."

Lord.

Roan was good.

Too good.

Bellamy hated it.

"How do you know that I didn’t have sex with anybody else?" _Change of topic. Perfect._

Or not.

"Because I know it. I already told you that I’m not blind. Do you even listen to me?" Roan sighed. "I don’t want to force you to think about it-"

"Oh, believe me, Miller is already trying."

"But you should wake the fuck up. It’s time for you to accept your feelings and work on what is actually important: finding love and your perfect match. Fuck whatever your mind is telling you and listen to your damn heart, Bellamy. You’ve been helping Clarke through the worst days and weeks here, you made her birthday a fucking big deal and are constantly treating her like a princess. You can’t tell me that this is something you’re doing for just anyone. No, you aren’t and you know that yourself. Don’t try to tell me it’s because you guys are best friends or some shit. Yes, you are, but that’s not it and we all know it. You don’t have to get into the Truth Booth, you don’t have to accept and admit your feelings for this game, _I_ don’t _fucking_ care, but do it for yourself, do it for her, and do it for your own happiness. Just _do it_."

For one of the few times in his life, Bellamy was speechless. He had no clue what just happened and why exactly it did, but he was speechless.

Roan talked for more than two minutes and all he said was… the truth. Bellamy couldn’t deny it, he wouldn’t deny it, and still had no idea what to say. Maybe it was because the way he was treating Clarke had never been so subtle to him while everyone else had already noticed that things were slightly changing. Meanwhile, he had acted as if everything was still the same, as if they were still in the first week of this Dating Show.

But that wasn’t the truth.

Bellamy sighed and grabbed his glass again before he downed the rest of the wine that was inside of it. He still wasn’t sure about what Roan wanted to hear him say. It wasn’t like he actually could answer anything, to be honest. Roan had stated some things he noticed and interpreted them… correctly and now he had to live with the fact that someone he hadn’t had lots of contact with had been able to look right through him.

It made him laugh. It really did. Not because he thought anything about this was funny, but because he had been an idiot for so long and couldn’t even add anything to what Roan had been saying, neither could he deny anything of the things Roan had mentioned.

The difference between the conversation he had with Miller in comparison to the one he was just having with Roan was that he was calling him the fuck out. Miller had only asked him about what was going on with Clarke and told him that he should start thinking what him being hurt by what Clarke had said meant, which he did. But Roan… he really called him out.

Fuck.

Now not only his mind was a mess, but _he_ was in general.

"So," Bellamy lifted his gaze from the floor and looked at Roan instead. "Who’s your match, Bellamy?"

He ran his hand through his hair and walked towards Roan, glass in his hand, and stopped next to him. He grabbed the bottle of wine and almost filled up his glass to the top before he placed the bottle back on the island.

Bellamy knew why Roan was asking him this and whatever he would do, answer or ignore his question, it would mean something. And that something was the same if he would reply or not. Basically, he was fucked.

"Do you want me to be honest or should I just say what you want me to say?" Bellamy questioned instead.

Roan shrugged his shoulders and jumped from the island, taking away the glass Bellamy had just filled. He snorted and shook his head, looking at the raindrops which were hitting the balcony door.

He was still sober and he wouldn’t get through this conversation without being at least close to drunk. But it seemed like Roan didn’t want him to drink more of the wine because he started drinking out of his glass himself, clearly not giving it back to him and waiting for an answer.

The thing was, Bellamy was aware of what it would mean if he would say _her_ name. It was just as bad for him as to say these _fucking_ few words or even think about them because he hadn’t been there for a long time. God, he wasn’t even sure if he ever had been because _now_ he was feeling completely different than before. He didn’t want to admit it, he didn’t want to speak it aloud because he was fucking _scared_. The past was about to haunt him again and he didn’t want that to happen at all, but silence wasn’t an option either.

Maybe it was just time.

Maybe it was just time to start something new.

Maybe it was just time to start something new and leave the past behind.

Bellamy lifted himself up to stand correctly and turned to Roan. The guy was looking at him already but instead of seeing him waiting for him to say something, Roan seemed pretty chill and just had a neutral expression on his face.

"I’m going to sleep."

Roan nodded and took two steps back so that he would have enough space to leave the kitchen area. It confused him a little that he just let him go like that after he asked him a question he hadn’t even answered yet and after he had called him out so badly. He had no idea what that meant, but he preferred it instead of being forced to say things he couldn’t yet.

"See you tomorrow, I guess."

Bellamy didn’t wait for Roan to say something in response and just left the first floor and made his way upstairs. He tried to be as quiet as possible and luckily didn’t meet anybody else on his way back into the bedroom.

The door was still open a slit since he left it like that earlier on purpose so that he wouldn’t wake anybody up by closing the door behind him.

Bellamy slipped inside and kept the door open in the same way he had left it before he quietly walked over to the bed he shared with Clarke. The blonde wasn’t laying on her side of the bed anymore, but had now occupied his, still turned to the window instead of having her face turned to the door.

He sighed slightly and walked over to her bedside before he sat down on the mattress but kept his gaze on her.

As per usual, the moonlight was shining on her face, due to their bed being right next to the window. Clarke’s skin tone was already fair in general, but now it looked lighter because of the light shining on it. Surprisingly, her forehead had no wrinkle between her brows and she seemed to be having a relaxing sleep which was all he wanted for her. Even with him being hurt by what she had said to him, and her being hurt by how he was behaving now, he couldn’t stop caring about her.

Bellamy sighed again then leaned forward and pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She frowned slightly, but only for a second, before she relaxed again and continued sleeping.

God, it made him smile.

They came from meeting on the aircraft…

_"I’m Bellamy by the way." he offered._

_Bellamy. She didn’t know where that name came from, but it somehow fit to him. Without thinking twice, she turned towards him and leaned her back against the window._

_"Clarke." Bellamy smiled lightly before he spun towards her, raking his fingers through his hair._

…and having sex on the airplane to having fun until they realized that it wasn’t good for the game. They had their first fight early on in the show because Clarke had been trying to find her perfect match.

She fucking slept walked to _him_ on the anniversary of her father’s death or birthday day, she didn’t tell him, and he won a challenge for her only so that he could take her on a date which ended up being both emotional and beautiful at once.

_“You didn’t have to tell me this, Bellamy…”_

_He snorted and shook his head. “It’s okay, I just felt like doing so. Are you okay?”_

_Clarke nodded, assuring him that she was fine. “How do I look?” she asked softly._

_Bellamy laughed and wiped something away from the edge of her lip with his thumb. It was probably chocolate from eating her dumbass churros. Why was he even able to laugh? After telling her this emotional story he was still able to laugh. God, she…_

_Clarke took his face in her hands and placed her lips on his. She didn’t know why she was doing this and what she expected to happen after this, but she just needed to. She had no clue why, probably because all of what happened the past few days had been leading up to this. Probably, she wasn’t sure. But when Bellamy kissed her back, she knew that he thought the same._

Then her birthday came around and he had been extra enough to spend the whole morning preparing the bathroom for her.

_‘After days of pain and suffering, the princess deserves a break.’_

_"I got something for you."_

_"What?" she questioned. "Bellamy," she said warningly. "Don’t give it to me. I don’t want it."_

_He looked at her over his shoulder and grinned again, shaking his head before he fumbled through his stuff again._

_"Yeah, but I don’t care and I’ll give it to you."_

_Clarke groaned and rolled her eyes before she reached for her sponge and threw it against his ass. Bellamy turned around and crooked his head to the side._

_"Really?"_

_She shrugged her shoulders. "You have a nice ass."_

_Bellamy rolled his eyes but laughed lightly as he walked over to the tub again, holding something behind his back._

The funniest thing about it was that he would do it again… and again… and again. He would be lying if he said that after her birthday nothing had changed because he knew now that things were one hundred percent different.

And now they were here: Clarke sleeping peacefully after their second fight and him staring at the most beautiful person he knew; The one he wanted to pull into his side and tell once again that he would be here for her whenever she had any issue going on because that’s how it should be. That’s how he wanted it to be.

This fight they were currently having did hurt him, yes, but it only made him realize one thing:

That Clarke Griffin was the first and last person Bellamy was in love with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as per usual, comments and kudos are appreciated! 
> 
> much love xx


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now that Bellamy finally realized his feelings for Clarke what is going to happen?  
> time to find out...
> 
> enjoy!

11 am.

From the second Clarke blinked her eyes open, she knew that it was too bright for it to be around 9 am., the time she would usually get up on a Wednesday. On top of that, she didn’t hear anyone making noises around her, which meant that her roommates had already left the bedroom. Therefore, she most likely missed breakfast and the challenge was supposed to take place in an hour or less.

"Shit," she mumbled to herself before she slowly sat up and pushed some annoying strands of hair behind her ear. 

The blonde sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds and only reopened them by the smell of syrup. She blinked a couple of times before she turned her head to the left and noticed a tablet with some waffles covered in syrup, orange juice, and a bowl of fruits on it. There was a little note leaning against the glass filled with juice, which had her name on it. That happened to put a smile on her lips for a brief second before she shook her head and turned it back to the Right.

The clock read _’11.03 AM’_ and that was all she needed to know to realize that she had only forty-five minutes left to eat and get dressed for the challenge.

Clarke groaned before she threw the blanket away from her, making sure that it didn’t hit the tablet and food on it, then made her way to the closet first. Before she would eat the breakfast that was saved for her, she wanted to clean her face, brush her teeth, and get into some sporty clothes. Honestly, it wasn’t a great idea to eat this close to the challenge, especially if they had to do anything athletic today, but she wouldn’t leave the house without eating her first meal of the day.

Since no one was in the bedroom other than her, she assumed that nobody was in the closet as well and just pulled the door open. At the same time, she started yawning so she covered her mouth with her hand and automatically closed her eyes while doing so. However, it didn’t stop her from entering the tiny room and closing the door behind her.

But maybe it should have.

As soon as she opened her eyes again and let her hand fall next to her body, she regretted not knocking first.

Bellamy was standing in front of the dresser where his belongings were stored, in nothing else but some jogging pants and some sneakers, but he had his head turned over his shoulder, looking at her. Surprisingly, he sent her a soft smile before he turned back to fumble through his drawer.

"Got enough sleep?"

Clarke could only imagine how her expression looked like right now: shocked, surprised, but glad all at once. The way Bellamy started a conversation with her was as if nothing happened between them and for a minute, she even believed so. Yet, she knew that it wasn’t like that and Bellamy probably just wanted to be nice to her, that was just who he was.

"Too much apparently…," she answered as she made her way to the dresser her own clothes were in.

Bellamy laughed lightly, which surprised Clarke even more but she couldn’t hide the smile that was making its way on her lips.

Maybe this day wouldn’t be as bad as she thought.

"You still have enough time to get ready and eat. Don’t stress yourself because of the challenge."

Clarke turned around after Bellamy finished his sentence. He was leaning against the dresser across from hers, torso already covered by the black shirt he was wearing. It reminded her of the blue shirt he always used to wear, but didn’t anymore and for a reason: she still had it in her own drawer along with some sweatpants he once gave her and another shirt. She started to feel bad because she kept them all and didn’t think of giving them back, but he hadn’t asked her about his clothes and it didn’t seem like he missed his stuff either, so why not keep it for a little longer.

"That’s true, yeah," she replied, placing her hands on the commode behind her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

The blonde worried on her lower lip for a while and kept her gaze on him, just like his gaze was on hers. She wasn’t sure if she actually should ask him what was on her mind, even though it wasn’t anything bad and the way he was leaning against the dresser showed her that he was pretty relaxed about the current situation.

So, instead of keeping the silence between them for too long, she cleared her throat and tilted her head to the side.

"Were you the one who placed the tablet with food and juice on our bed?"

Bellamy started smiling softly and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Who makes the best waffles?"

Clarke furrowed her brows slightly, which caused Bellamy to laugh. Even if she should be offended by it, she couldn’t be. She knew that he was just making fun of her and her facial expression but she couldn’t help it.

Maybe he was the best waffle maker, but only because he always talked about a special recipe of his and never shared it with anyone. They _really_ tasted different than the ones the others would make, but how was she supposed to know that he made them if she hadn’t eaten yet?

"You’re so mean," she said quietly, rolling her eyes at the same time, the smile from earlier still on her lips.

Bellamy’s lip was still curled upward when he took his arms away from in front of his chest and pushed himself away from the commode. For Clarke, that meant their conversation was over and he would leave her alone so she could get ready for the challenge, but he didn’t walk to the door of the closet, instead he strolled towards her and stopped right in front of her.

Clarke had no clue what he wanted to achieve now, what he had planned in his mind and if she had to be honest, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know.

They hadn’t had a real conversation like this in a long time. It felt like an eternity and now he decided to laugh with her, to make her feel good again, and thought that stopping right in front of her, looking down like always, relaxed her. It didn’t. She was nervous about how this situation would turn out and she expected everything but not _that._

"Get ready," Bellamy begun softly, lifting up his left hand to put a wisp of her hair behind her ear, "I’ll make sure that we don’t leave without you."

He dropped his hand again, still smiling lightly, but turned around before Clarke could even say something. She parted her lips, in hope that something would come out of her mouth before he would leave the closet, but she was too late.

There was nothing she could have said before he was gone and left her speechless in the closet.

She had no idea what was going on between them and how she should interpret his behavior, but she probably shouldn’t think about that now. Time was running out and she didn’t have much left until she had to make her way to the park a few minutes away from the mansion with the others.

But even with getting ready, eating her breakfast, and talking to Raven on their way out, she couldn’t think about anything other than Bellamy and what happened in the closet.

 # # # # # # # # # #

12 pm.

"Is he listening or is he just staring?"

"Bellamy? Definitely not listening, but staring and thinking."

"Jasper… what would he be thinking about? I mean, the staring is understandable but-"

"Maya," Jasper laughed. "Maybe how he can, you know, take-"

Bellamy shook his head as he rolled his eyes then leaned forward, speaking against Jasper’s ear.

"If you keep talking, I’m going to make sure that you’re sleeping bad tonight." He stood up correctly again after having witnessed a startled Jasper because of what he said, and fixed his gaze on Aryana after he drifted off for too long.

It wasn’t really his fault, though.

After the night he had spent thinking and realizing that he _really_ was in love with Clarke, he had no idea how he should behave. It was the first time that he ever felt this way: the need to keep his shit together so that he wouldn’t say or do anything wrong. Yet, he did so as soon as the day had started.

When he woke up, Clarke had still been asleep, which he thought was the best for himself at first. He didn’t want to be confronted with his feelings immediately in the morning but, like always, he let his heart make his decisions. That was why he made her breakfast after everyone had been done eating already. He would’ve done that every time, though, it was just weird that he felt the need of doing so even when they weren’t talking much and in a weird position currently.

On top of that, he forgot about their fight in the back of his mind the moment Clarke walked into the closet, looking all sleepy, beautiful, and adorable. The only thing he had thought of when they were in the tiny room all by themselves was how he wanted to kiss her good morning instead of just casually dropping the greeting like he had been doing the past few days. But even if his heart was ruling his mind in that situation, he kept himself from kissing her and just started a normal conversation, which, of course, ended with him touching her anyway.

Bellamy thought he had been in love before, but Clarke made him realize that he hadn’t been, _at all._

" _Now_ he’s thinking about fucking Aryana."

Bellamy turned his face to Jasper and didn’t wait any longer to smack the back of his head. Jasper ducked his head down but laughed at the same time, which only made Bellamy smack his head again.

"Au! You’re so fucking extra."

"Shut up, Jasper."

Maya chuckled softly before she used her hand to caress Jasper’s head. Bellamy couldn’t feel bad for making him feel a little bit of pain, he deserved it after saying some bullshit like that. Aryana was a pretty host but he has not once thought of even sleeping with her. Perhaps he would’ve before applying to this Dating Show, but he told himself that he wanted to change his behavior and not have sex with any random girl or guy that was walking past him.

Funny.

Octavia wanted to find love and wasn’t _that_ interested in getting the money. Now she was in the honeymoon suite for three weeks already and had exactly what she wanted.

Meanwhile, he came here _just_ to protect his sister and win the cash at the end of the tenth week. He hadn’t been interested in finding his match nor in falling in love, yet here he was: sure that Clarke was his perfect match and in love. He really had to laugh.

"Alright! Everyone understand the challenge?"

Well… fuck.

Bellamy sighed and raised his hand up, rolling his eyes at the same time. Miller and Roan were the reason why he couldn’t stop thinking anymore, they were definitely the one to blame.

"What’s up, Blake?" Aryana asked, whereupon he let his hand dropped and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Can you repeat whatever you’ve been saying? Mr. and Mrs. Jordan thought that speaking throughout your explanation would be a good idea."

"That’s a lie! Oh my God, Ary, don’t believe a word he says!" Jasper shouted but it didn’t stop Bellamy from smirking anyway.

The host shook her head in disbelief and maybe she was annoyed as well, but it wasn’t Bellamy’s fault.

Not at all.

Nope.

"Let me repeat once again… This is a test of how well you’ve gotten to know each other in the seven weeks you’ve spent together already. As requirement to get a space in this house, we told you to send in a picture that describes you _and_ it has to be combined with a future goal, achievement, lifestyle, whatever of yours. Now, this doesn’t happen in pairs or anything, everyone works for themselves. If you name the right person the TV,” the host pointed to the TV next to her, "describes with the picture, you’re automatically on for the date. If you don’t, you’re out. There’s no specific order of who goes first, it’s about who thinks they know best. You don’t get to see the picture before you decide to be the first, the next, or the last person, you just go ahead and try your best. Everyone understood this time?"

Bellamy nodded slowly to himself. By looking around, he could see that the whole group didn’t need to be told twice.

"Perfect. As I said, the getaway date takes place at the Getty Museum so whoever loves to visit museums, it’s your time to shine!"

Bellamy was interested in museums, _yes,_ but him being one of the participants that would win this challenge was out of the question.

# # # # # # # # # # 

1 pm.

…and he had to be right.

He didn’t win the challenge.

Costia had decided to go first. The picture that came up first on the screen had been some paint brushes and a sketchbook. Since Costia grew close to Clarke, she of course figured that the picture was describing her and her dream to become an artist. At the beginning, Bellamy was pissed at himself that he didn’t have the balls to be the first one, but then again, he didn’t want their date to turn into a disaster again.

So at the end, he was glad that he didn’t win himself.

Costia picked Lexa for the getaway date, which wasn’t surprising, but it didn’t matter because they weren’t allowed to be voted into the Truth Booth again. Everyone hated it, but the two girls were happy anyway. Another date all by themselves was all what they wanted so nobody could be mad at Aryana for only telling them about the rule after they had decided to pick the extra cash.

Hopefully, they would still get it right.

Luna had been able to figure out that Miller was the one who liked to play basketball next to his job as a police officer. When he was a kid though, he had dreamt of becoming a professional so that was why the picture of a basketball came up.

Monty and Raven believed that Luna and Jackson were a perfect match so for the sake of the group, Luna chose Jackson for her getaway date. Bellamy himself didn’t believe that they were an actual match, but at this point, they could only hope that what they were doing was correct. It was the seventh week after all and they needed another match.

The third, and with that, the last person, who won another getaway date was Wells. He figured that the picture of three children playing in the sand belonged to Harper and her dream of becoming a mom of many children. Bellamy had no idea how he knew that it was Harper’s description, but it didn’t matter at the end.

Wells picked Sasha for the getaway date because they had been on one before and apparently, Wells only waited for her to be free again. Sasha didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all and was rather happy about the fact that she would be going on a date again. Bellamy liked seeing Wells and Sasha together. Somehow, he had been involved in bringing them together anyway.

_"Anyway, Wells, it’s your turn to choose."_

_"Uhm, I actually had no idea who I would’ve picked if I was going to win," he admitted. God, as much as Clarke wanted to shake her head, in some way, it was still adorable. "But, I guess I’ll be a good… friend to Bellamy and take out Sasha."_

_"Thanks," Bellamy replied, whereupon Wells smiled at him._

Bellamy couldn’t say that he was happy about the result of the challenge, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully, one of the two pairs that won the game, next to Lexa and Costia, were a perfect match.

# # # # # # # # # # 

4 pm.

Bellamy and Miller were standing in front of the TV now for almost five minutes. It was time to vote one of the pairs, Luna and Jackson or Wells and Sasha, into the Truth Booth. The funny thing about it was that they had both wanted to pick someone else but they needed to decide, which… wasn’t quite easy.

"I get that you believe in strategy, I do as much as you, but this isn’t it. I don’t see Jackson and Luna being a match."

"Bellamy…," Miller shook his head and pointed to the collage of Wells and Sasha, "Do you really believe they are a match or do you want them to get into the Booth because you brought them together?"

Bellamy laughed and folded his arms in front of his chest, then titled his chin to the monitor.

"Just look, man. You can’t tell me that Luna and Jackson would make a good couple, no hate of course. And as far as I know, Luna prefers girls over guys and Jackson does the other way around. How could they be a match?"

"Dammit, Blake. Sometimes you need to stop being so smart." Bellamy let out a breathy laugh before he shook his head. "I’m serious. Now I’m waiting for you to figure out your own shit."

_Believe me, I did._

Bellamy pressed on the collage of Wells and Sasha then turned around to Miller.

"Let’s hope the others voted for them as well, hm?" he said, squeezing his friend’s shoulder.

Miller scoffed. "They aren’t as smart as you might think."

"Who are we gossiping about?"

Bellamy turned his head in the direction of the door and had to smile immediately. Octavia and Lincoln had just made their way through the front door and he didn’t have to analyze his sister to see that she was happy and… tan.

"Did you spend too much time in the sun?" He asked cockily, meeting Octavia halfway before he pulled her in a hug.

"Ha ha, I missed you, too, big brother."

"I would say they’re spending too much time in the training room of the honeymoon suite. You look _great,_ Lincoln."

Octavia pulled away, which Bellamy didn’t stop her from, and walked over to Miller, first smacking the back of his head, then pulling him into a hug as well.

"Stop flirting with my man."

Bellamy laughed while shaking his head before he made his way to Lincoln instead. The older one seemed to be glad to see him, which confused Bellamy a little bit but he wouldn’t complain about building a better friendship with his sister’s _man._

"She keeps calling me that for a week now." Lincoln said, grinning.

"My man or husband?" Lincoln hit his shoulder, which caused Bellamy to smile. "I’m just joking."

"No, he’s not. Don’t believe a word he says, Linc."

Both Bellamy and Lincoln turned back around to Octavia, who was now standing in front of Miller. She really looked happier than ever and that was everything Bellamy wanted. If Lincoln was able to put that smile on her lips on a daily basis, he wouldn’t complain. Maybe he would even kiss Lincoln’s feet for that but… it was very unlikely that this would happen.

"Where’s everyone else?" Octavia asked while looking around, noticing that no one was in the kitchen nor living area except for the four of them.

"Mostly upstairs but I think some people are outside, too. Why? Who do you want to speak too?" Miller uttered.

Octavia shook his head, then smiled. "My brother comes first, I’ll see who I talk to afterwards."

"I feel honored."

"Shut up, Bellamy."

He could only grin because of her comment but didn’t say anything else either.

Miller and Lincoln decided to leave them to themselves first and they would join them again as soon as they were finished talking. They would make sure that no one would come downstairs and interrupt them, but they couldn’t change much if someone would decide to do whatever they wanted. Bellamy and Octavia were fine with it and sat down on the couch, Bellamy on the L and Octavia next to it, while the camera team stayed close enough to record the siblings.

"Are you thinking about your wedding already?" Bellamy asked before he threw a nut into his mouth.

Octavia narrowed her eyes at him but she was clearly smiling.

Cute.

"I am not! Well… not really, yeah, no! I’m too young for that but we had a conversation about what we wanted to have in the future and how we want to keep the relationship going, especially because of the distance, you know?"

Bellamy nodded slowly then threw his arm over the armrest.

"Where does he live again?"

"…Orlando."

_Well…_

Bellamy sighed. He knew that this show wasn’t a great idea.

Everyone was from different states and falling in love. Nobody would decide to call things off just because of the distance between the states, especially if that person was called Octavia. And to be honest, Bellamy didn’t want to tell her to stop being with Lincoln and search for someone else, because he knew how the guys around them at home were. On top of that, his sister deserved happiness and as long as Lincoln could give her that, he wouldn’t try to separate them but rather try to keep the two of them together.

So instead of freaking out like he would have a few weeks ago, he nodded slowly and cleared his throat.

"Do you know how far away that is from New York?" he asked softly.

"Um… I think something around fifteen hours… with the car."

Bellamy nodded again. "I won’t stop you from seeing, dating… and whatnot with Lincoln. I want you to be happy and to be loved the way you love someone and I can see that Lincoln is that guy. It’s going to be hard to keep up a long-distance relationship, but I’m pretty sure the two of you can work this out."

Octavia didn’t say anything at first and Bellamy started thinking that she herself had changed her mind, which would shock him to be honest. His sister was down for a relationship with Lincoln from pretty early in the game and he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t been any different from her and-

"Woah!" Bellamy blinked a couple of times, coming back to reality and realizing that Octavia jumped him, threw her arms around his neck and was now hugging him. It might have been completely unexpected, but he couldn’t help it and felt a goofy smile making its way on his lips. She was truly happy and that was everything he wanted, so he hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her back.

"Thank you so much for saying that, Bell, really."

Bellamy laughed lightly then started rubbing his sister’s back up and down. As per usual, she pulled away immediately when he began doing so and shook her head. He just grinned, which turned into a smile some seconds later.

"You really shouldn’t thank me for that, alright? It’s what you deserve after all. I just want you to speak to me, whenever you feel the need to talk with someone. I’m your brother and I’ll always have your back."

"Sometimes you can be adorable." Octavia stated, letting herself drop backwards into the couch.

"I hear that often enough, thank you."

"From the pretty blonde with the nice boobs, curves, and legs? That sticks her tongue between her teeth whenever she smiles? With the cute giggle and nice haircut? The one who always wears oversized hoodies, mostly yours, you mean? Yeah, thought so."

Here they were again…

Bellamy didn’t want to open that topic for a second time, but he knew that Octavia wouldn’t rest until she would find out what has been going on between them. He had been able to wave her off at the matching ceremony, but it was certain that it wouldn’t work out again. On top of that, he was pretty sure that she would make her way to Clarke herself if he wouldn’t tell her and he had no idea what the blonde would tell her.

So he had no other choice than to talk to his sister and maybe, just _maybe_ tell her how things were now.

"You really start this conversation like this, hm? Outer appearance?" He asked, reaching for another nut before he ate it.

"Oh, if that is the only problem, we can gladly talk about her personality. I just thought that it would make you feel very uncomfortable, considering how you treated her nice soul on Sunday."

Bellamy groaned. He knew that he treated her like shit, not only on Sunday, but also the days before. Sure, he had been hurt and had to figure out _why_ first, but there hadn’t been a reason for him to be an asshole. Yes, at first he believed that he was in the right and that she had to apologize to him, but after realizing his… feelings for her, he kind of regretted behaving the way he had been.

"O… I know it wasn’t the right choice to make and-"

"Correct, it wasn’t."

" _But…_ what happened between us just made me realize some things and I guess, therefore, the fight was necessary." Bellamy explained.

"Well… does she know that?"

"Know what?"

"Ugh," Octavia ran her hands over her face before she sat up again and faced him, "Well, does she know that you’re in love with her or are you going to keep it to yourself until you die? Or she dies… whatever."

Bellamy shouldn’t be laughing right now, but he had to for a brief moment. Of course his sister figured that he had feelings for Clarke before he even realized it himself, literally everyone except for him got that, so it wasn’t a surprise to him that Octavia knew as well. The reason why he had to laugh was because his sister didn’t even try to shut up about it while the cameras were clearly recording them.

"No, I didn’t tell her. And before you say that I should, I won’t. It’s not mutual and you know I’ve never… been there, so," he used to defend himself.

Octavia sighed. "I know, Bellamy, I’m not stupid… I understand that you’re scared, considering what happened between Gina and you."

Bellamy cleared his throat then scooted a bit further against the cushion. He didn’t want to open that topic now, not with the camera team around, but he knew that there wasn’t a way out of this. He had decided to join this show and he should have known that there could be the possibility of him actually finding love again. Yet, with the way he felt for Clark, he knew it was very different from what he had felt for Gina.

"O…"

"No, listen to me. What Gina and you had was… great, okay? I saw you with her a whole damn year and I haven’t been in this mansion for long, but I can spot the difference. Yes, Gina made you smile, made you happy, and she was a great person, still is. You two are even talking with each other normally but… Bellamy, God, if you could only see yourself, see how you behave around Clarke it’s… it’s not even describable. I know you’re scared about…"

"Octavia…" he warned.

“Having a relationship again because you basically crushed it yourself, pulling back after a year because you doubted yourself being good enough for her, because you were more into your own mind than with her but, dammit, this is Clarke, Bellamy. She had been there for you right at the beginning when I was screaming at your dumb ass for being mean to Maya. And guess what, Maya still liked you then and she still likes you now and because of what? Because you’re a good fucking guy with a great heart so please… please don’t think that Clarke would never want a relationship with you."

Bellamy sighed and placed his hand on his forehead, rubbing it a little. He wasn’t mad at Octavia for what she just said, but he never intended on even thinking back so far. Yes, he realized his feelings for Clarke, no he didn’t want to talk to her about it and think about a relationship with her. Did he do it anyways? Yes.

"O… it’s not the same thing as with Gina and you know it." Bellamy admitted.

"I know. You didn’t… you weren’t in love with Gina. You thought you were but now that you’re in love with Clarke, you know that it’s not the same."

_Right._

"Now, what are you going to do? Be a coward and not tell Clarke how you feel about her or will you be a man and stand up for your feelings?"

Bellamy took his hand away from his forehead and looked at his little sister. She had always been more open about her feelings and let people notice it when she was sad or angry. Meanwhile, he used to push his feelings back and tried to be there for everyone else when he clearly wasn’t fine. That’s exactly the reason why his relationship with Gina failed after a year. She wasn’t mad at him for keeping stuff to himself, not at all, but she couldn’t watch him destroy himself by letting his feelings eat him up, which was understandable.

"Alright. Maybe I-"

"Octavia?"

The Blakes turned their face around, looking to the kitchen where Clarke was standing with a smile on her lips. She had her hair in a bun, right on the crown of her head, and was wearing a white summer dress that stopped right above her knees, walking around barefoot. The thing about her outer appearance right now was that Bellamy was imagining them, including the rest of their friends, spending their time at the park in the summer, having a BBQ and just enjoying their time.

And he hated it.

He hated it because he knew this would never happen with him not telling Clarke how he felt and especially not if she wasn’t feeling the same for him.

_Sorry._

He had to stay silent.

"Clarke!" Octavia jumped up from the couch and quickly walked over to Clarke instead. The two pulled each other in a hug and even if Bellamy didn’t want to smile, he could feel his lip curl upward. "You need to tell me _everything!_ I need to know all the gossip!"

Clarke laughed lightly then pulled away and before anything could happen, speaking to him or making eye contact, Bellamy got up from the couch himself and pulled his sweats up a bit. Still, that didn’t seem to help because both his sister and Clarke turned to him, smiling softly at the same time, and he knew what that meant.

"It’s okay. Gotta start to make dinner anyway. Go talk." he assured, waving them off.

Octavia used her hand to blow him a kiss, whereupon he shook his head with a little grin on his face. His sister took Clarke’s hand and made her turn around but the blonde wasn’t focusing much on Octavia. She just turned her head over her shoulder to look back at him and because Bellamy was Bellamy and his heart loved to rule his decisions, his grin turned into a smile which caused hers to grow on her lips.

"Clarke!"

"Oops." She replied, laughing softly before she turned her head back to Octavia and stopped looking at Bellamy. He just sighed and ran his hand through his curls as he watched them leave behind the wall that separated the kitchen and living area from the hallway and stairs.

Bellamy was sure that they would be the last two women he’d ever truly love… as a sister and maybe, just maybe, as a girlfriend if Clarke returned his feelings. The only two…

Or one more?

# # # # # # # # # # 

7.10 pm.

Clarke quickly made her way to the first floor, running down the stairs with her towel on top of her head. She had been in desperate need to wash her hair but _a certain someone_ , Echo, took her time in the shower and only left her five minutes before it was time for the Truth Booth. Yes, it would have been smarter for her to just wash her hair afterwards, but she had other stuff to do after the Booth so that wasn’t even an option.

Now she had to live with the consequences of being late _and_ ugly at the reveal of which pair was voted into the Truth Booth. She missed it once and didn’t want to miss it again, so here she was ten minutes late.

"Hey…," she whispered quietly, sitting down next to Harper, "What did I miss?"

Harper turned her face around and sent her a light smile, which Clarke returned, before she looked back at the TV in front of them.

"As you can see… Jackson and Luna got voted into the Booth; don’t ask me how that happened. They just left for it and Aryana did as well. Left the house, I mean."

Clarke nodded slowly then lifted her chin up to sweep her eyes over the whole group. It didn’t seem like they actually believed that they were a match, which kind of confused her because the strategy Monty and Raven came up with said that they had to be a perfect match. Yes, she didn’t believe so herself, but she had no intention of losing faith in her friends so she was hoping for the best.

"Have you been talking to Bellamy again?"

Clarke frowned and fixed her gaze on Harper again but the girl was still looking at the screen.

"Um… why are you asking me this?"

"You seem happier, lately."

Clarke blinked a couple of times before she smiled softly. "Maybe."

Now Harper turned her face back to her but instead of finding her friend smiling back at her, Harper just winked.

"I knew it. Did you guys have sex already?"

"Harper!"

"What?!"

Clarke groaned as she shook her head and faced the TV again. God, she wished that they were having sex again. It wasn’t like she couldn’t live without it, she could if she wanted to, but she just missed being close to Bellamy even though… slow and tender sex wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

At the challenge earlier, she had been feeling someone staring at her and to say that she hadn’t decided to wear a top that made her boobs look incredibly good on purpose, would be a lie. Still, she had been looking at Bellamy herself and him wearing that black shirt she had seen him in, in the closet already only made her sweat more, especially with the sun shining on his face, making his freckles more visible and his arms and-

"Oh my God! This can’t be happening, _again!_ "

Clarke snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head before she fixed her gaze on the screen in front of her.

_No Match._

"Well," she said, laughing lightly, "We really suck at this game."

"Maybe," Raven replied, getting up at the same time and shrugging her shoulders, "But therefore, I’m pretty sure we can all _suck_ something else _really good._ "

Clarke took the pillow that she was leaning on with her back and threw it against Raven’s face instead. The brunette just started laughing loudly and hit Octavia, who pulled a disgusted face, with the pillow instead.

"I never say no to a blowjob," Murphy interjected, which caused Harper to get up from the couch.

"I’m not going to sit here and listen to this any further."

"McIntyre, is that confirmation that you don’t suck dick?" Roan said while grinning and now Clarke had to laugh as well.

How fast could a conversation turn.

"It’s the confirmation that I don’t want to know about who sucked which dick in this house."

"Maybe," Lexa offered, "We should talk about eating out instead?"

Even if all of this was funny, Clarke had to press her thighs together. She didn’t want to think about the last time Bellamy ate her out and honestly? She hoped that she would keep her shit together and not turn her head around to look at him and see if he was looking at her… or thinking of her sucking his dick.

God, she really needed sex.

"Oh, I would love that." Murphy admitted, smirking as well.

"Well, how sad that you’re not good at it. Like, at all."

Damn. Emori was dropping the tea and although Clarke shouldn’t be here for it, she definitely was.

"It’s getting interesting…," Bellamy muttered as he reached for his glass and brought it to his lips.

_Fuck._

Clarke swept her eyes to him and she shouldn’t have with the current conversation they were having.

"What do you mean, Emori? You know I’m good; don’t act like I’m not just because you’re pressed…," Murphy said, looking at Emori as if he was waiting for her to really take it back but…

…of course she wouldn’t.

"Sorry, I learned not to lie and whatever you’re trying to do with your tongue down there is not working."

"Are we really having this conversation right now?" Monty asked, shaking his head while he placed his hand on his forehead.

To be honest, Clarke had no idea why exactly they started talking about sexual activities. On the one hand, she wanted everyone to stop and focus on the fact that they just failed with another match, but then again, the conversation was too interesting to not listen or participate in.

So…

"Yes," she responded, "We’re definitely going to have this conversation right now. Is that a problem?"

Roan whistled. "Griffin, are you about to drop some tea yourself?"

Clarke just laughed and shook her head before she leaned back against the cushion and threw her right leg over her left one, pulling her dress down a bit.

"I don’t drop tea but _I_ drop on _my knees._ "

"This is getting too much…," Maya stood up and turned to Jasper, "Do you want to leave?"

"To do _what?_ " Raven questioned while wiggling her eyebrows at Maya.

"Not what I would be doing if I decided to go upstairs right now."

Clarke spun her head around to Bellamy, who just placed his glass down on the couch table before he leaned back. But while doing so, he made eye contact with Clarke, winked one time, then turned his attention back to something else that didn’t even interest Clarke at all.

She had no fucking clue what was going on between them, but she knew that if they were alone now, she would jump him. That was out of the question.

Luckily, Jackson and Luna came back from the Booth and walked into the living area, interrupting the sex topic and turning everyone’s attention to them. They didn’t seem to be sad about not being a match, maybe that was because Jackson still had feelings for Miller and Luna… well, she probably was interested in someone else or had no clue who her match was.

At the end, it was okay for everyone in the group and they just decided, as per usual, that they would talk about potential matches and the upcoming matching ceremony the following day.

Surprisingly, everyone left to go upstairs, everyone except for Emori and Clarke, which was exactly how it should be because now, after the Truth Booth, the result and the sex talk, Clarke had to work on what was really important:

Her surprise for Bellamy.

And luckily, everything that she needed for it was here now, even if she didn’t get the chance to see Aryana again and wasn’t able to thank her for bringing her the last thing she needed.

Hopefully, it would go as great as possible and she wouldn’t embarrass herself too much.

# # # # # # # # # # 

8 pm.

"Are you sure you can do this, Clarke…"

The blonde turned her head over her shoulder to look at Emori who was standing across from her at the kitchen island. Clarke was only able to see her friend’s back, but she knew that Emori was a better cook than her so she trusted her with the main dish while she was making…

"It’s a dessert, Em, how bad can it taste?" she asked, laughing while doing so.

"I don’t know. You said you burned a lot of stuff at home, so how am I supposed to know if this is actually going to be good? I’m not even allowed to taste it because you want it to all be for you and your boyfriend."

Clarke groaned. "Y’all have to stop calling him that. We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Yet you’re here, cooking for him, even though you’re bad at it."

The blonde worried on her lip for a while before she turned her face back to what was in front of her on the counter. She was making some small lava cakes as a sweet treat after the main part of the dinner she was planning to have with Bellamy.

Yes, this was the way she wanted to surprise him, to apologize and whatnot. She ruined their romantic dinner after all and now she wanted to recreate it to have a great memory of one dinner with him. It wouldn’t be at a fancy restaurant, she didn’t want that either to be honest, but she had decided that the balcony from the sex room, which was the only one they had here, would be good enough for it.

Clarke was glad that Aryana got her the present she wanted to give Bellamy since she knew she wasn’t allowed to go there herself. On top of that, she had her buy some fairy lights, which was the only other thing she needed to get that wasn’t in the house already. She really had no idea how to thank Aryana for that yet, but she would definitely find a way before the show ended.

"Anyways… I think the cakes will taste great. No, _I know_ they will. They will because I’m good at making them and because it’s for Bellamy. He deserves this."

Emori didn’t say anything in response and she didn’t have to either. There wasn’t anything Clarke expected her to say, as long as she was finishing the chicken alfredo.

Yet another person she had to thank for helping her with her surprise dinner for Bellamy.

"I’m glad that you finally realized that you’re in love with him, Clarke."

The blonde furrowed her brows together but only for a few seconds before she took a spoon out of the bowl she was using for the dough of her chocolate lava cake. She put some of it in one of the cake forms then filled the spoon with dough again before she added more to the form.

"It might have took me long, but I’m not so sure if I’m happy about it myself."

"Happy about what?" Emori asked. "Being in love with him or that it took you so long to realize it?"

Clarke pushed the full form away and took the empty one then started filling it, too.

"To be honest? The second… He might not return my feelings but… I don’t know. I don’t want to let Echo or Sasha or whoever win him over so I might just try and see where this all goes after tonight. _If_ he accepts my apology."

The blonde smiled as soon as both of the forms were filled with the chocolate dough and took some tissues to clean the bowl and spoon as much as possible before she would clean both in a few minutes.

"Clarke."

"Mhm?" She turned around but her friend was still with her back turned to her. "What?"

"I just want you to know that I’m here for you and that I’m going to support you with whatever decision you make: if you go after him or if you decide to let him go. The only thing I don’t want you to do is lose him as a friend, okay? If he doesn’t return your feelings, then try to keep being friends with him, for yourself."

Clarke chewed on her lip for a while before she turned around again and threw the tissues in the bin. She knew why Emori was saying this and she was grateful for it. Just because she was aware of her feelings now and Bellamy was talking, even flirting with her again didn’t mean that he felt the same way that she did for him. It was an option she didn’t like to think of, but it was still a possibility. But even then, she wouldn’t like to lose him as a friend, as her _best friend,_ so she would try to be as mature as possible, for once, and try her best.

"Mhm… you’re right. I’ll definitely-"

"Do I get to know why you two are cooking right now or should I just ignore it, grab my water, and leave you alone?"

_That was the end of her surprise._

Clarke lifted her head from the counter but didn’t make a move to turn around. She didn’t want Bellamy to see her if she was being honest, not when her cheeks started getting hotter and she knew that she was blushing.

"No, you don’t. Grab your water and go back to wherever you came from."

The blonde smiled softly by Emori’s reply to Bellamy and was glad that she decided to handle the situation instead of letting her do it herself.

"Sorry, I guess."

_Oh no…_

Clarke wasn’t sure if the fact that he was closer to her now was worse or that she could hear in the tone of his voice that he was grinning. Maybe both…

...no, definitely the first one.

"Is that chocolate?"

Bellamy was standing right behind her, his hands placed on the counter right next to her, his chin leaned on her shoulder. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem like a flirtatious act, but he seemed to be really interested and… smiling, now. It still made her a tiny bit uncomfortable because she hadn’t been this close to him in days but on the other hand, she couldn’t stop herself from leaning her spine against him when he was inviting her in like this already.

"Yep," she replied quietly as she placed the bowl and spoon in the sink right in front of her.

"Don’t you dare put water in it already without me getting to taste it first." While saying so, Bellamy was laughing lightly and it made her lips curl upward as well. She knew that he loved chocolate, but she wouldn’t give in so soon.

"I’m sorry… you’re not getting it."

Clarke filled the bowl with water, which erupted a groan from Bellamy, but it only made her smile more. She couldn’t even act like her heart wasn’t beating fast right now and she believed that if she would turn around, Bellamy would joke about her pink cheeks.

But the next thing he did didn’t make it any better, just worse.

"Alright," he kissed her cheek then pulled away and took his hands off the counter, "See you, ladies."

Clarke blinked a couple of times, not taking her gaze away from the bowl that was still being filled with water. She had no idea what to think anymore, no idea of what all of this was supposed to mean, and unsurprisingly, she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

"Did I just- witness this…," Emori asked quietly as soon as Bellamy was out of the kitchen but Clarke still couldn’t answer. The only thing she did was hold her hand up to stop Emori from saying anything else, then stopped the water from running.

Her heart was beating way too fast and her cheeks were too red to even show herself to Emori.

Maybe she was dreaming, maybe all of this wasn’t actually happening, but she could still feel Bellamy’s lips against her cheek which told her that this was her reality.

Clarke had no idea what Bellamy was trying, if this was his way of apologizing or if he just wanted to play games with her. Either way…

…it was working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as per usual, comments and kudos are appreciated! 
> 
> watch out for a little surprise very soon <3  
> much love! xx


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! 
> 
> i'm sorry for the late update but i didn't have the time to upload a new chapter earlier.   
> but here it is! i hope you enjoy it! <33

9 pm.

_I’ve learnt to count the stars,_

_Knowing them by heart,_

_So did I learn your scars,_

_And never wish to grow apart,_

_Now you shall know mine,_

_The deepest I keep inside,_

_I promise it’ll be fine,_

_I say with a look in your blue eyes…_

"Bellamy?"

Bellamy shut his notebook closed as soon as he heard Echo say his name. He cleared his throat before he put his pen inside the pages and placed both next to him, turning his attention to Echo.

He hadn’t talked to her since he fought with Clarke at their dinner. He had decided that it was the best for everyone, for Clarke _and_ him. Sure, at first he had been mad at the blonde and annoyed that she was trying to stop him from being nice to Echo, but after what happened between the two, he knew that it was best to if he didn’t talk to Echo again.

So her standing in front of his bed now was the opposite of what he wanted, which is why he didn’t care if he sounded annoyed when answering her.

"What do you want?" he asked. 

Echo smiled softly then sat down on the bed without asking for permission. Bellamy scoffed and shook his head but he wouldn’t tell her to get up again, that just wasn’t him. Instead, he scooted back, leaning his spine back against the headboard, and placed his feet on the mattress. He didn’t say anything and just kept his gaze fixed on Echo, waiting for her to say whatever she wanted to. 

"I just wanted to know how you’re doing. The last time we really spoke was on Friday and never again after that," she said, laughing at the same time. "I didn’t get to know how your dinner went."

Bellamy quirked up his left eyebrow. It was one thing that Echo was trying to grow close to him, as friends of course, but her asking how his dinner, _with Clarke_ , went was none of her business. Yes, she had helped him with choosing an outfit for it, which he _didn’t_ wear in the end, but that wasn’t a reason for him to tell her all about how it went. He hadn’t said a word about it at the matching ceremony and he wouldn’t talk about it with her now..

"Yeah, I didn’t tell you because I’m not going to speak about it with anyone, I said that before. It’s something between Clarke and me. Can you accept that?"

Echo blinked a couple of times, clearly surprised that he was talking to her in this way. He felt kind of bad though because he usually was nice to everyone and he wanted to be, yet, he knew that Echo was doing all of this on purpose, _took him long enough,_ and he had no intention of giving her what she wanted.

Still, showing that he was annoyed with her because of her attempts to get closer to him every second didn’t seem to be enough to keep her away from him.

"I mean… I would accept it if this show wasn’t supposed to be about perfect matches and all of that. It’s… our business to know what is going on between you guys so we can see who’s a perfect match and who isn’t. Maybe you guys aren’t one." Echo stated.

First, Bellamy pulled his head back, which caused him to hit the headboard, but he didn’t care about that. He started laughing, just slightly. Now Echo really wanted to make this about the whole group only so she could get more information about the current status of Clarke and his relationship. But he wouldn’t give her that after _she_ was the reason their relationship had changed.

Echo telling him that Clarke wasn’t his perfect match was brave. Yes, he had thought this way at first, but after he finally realized his feelings for her and gave himself the opportunity to look back to everything they went through already, he knew that she was the only one he accepted to be his match. There wasn’t anybody else he thought could be his and that was enough.

"If I was you, I wouldn’t talk about perfect matches. Have you found yours? Are you working on it or not? ‘Cause from what I can see, you’re not working on it if you keep digging your nose into other people’s business." Bellamy said unashamedly.

Echo scoffed before she nodded slowly and rose up from the bed. "Yeah right. Maybe that’s because the person I think my match is doesn’t show any interest in talking to me."

"Have you tried, though? To get closer to whoever that is?" he asked.

"Well," she crossed her arms in front of her breasts, "You don’t seem to want me getting closer to you."

_Jesus._

Bellamy sighed heavily then ran his fingers through his hair. He should’ve known that she was talking about him; how idiotic of him to think that there was anyone else she wanted to get to know better. Clarke had been right the whole time and instead of believing her, he decided to listen to himself and befriend everyone. It was a big mistake and he hoped that she would still forgive him for it.

But right now, he had to get Echo away from him so he could get back to writing his poem. It took him months to get back to it and he was surprised that he had even found the time to create something he actually liked. Echo coming to talk to him almost made him lose all inspiration for what he had planned to write and if she wouldn’t leave soon, he would have to make her leave.

"Okay, hear me out." Bellamy started, getting up from his bed so that he could stand in front of her and hold eye contact better than if he was still sitting. "I don’t know how exactly I should feel about you thinking of me as a potential match of yours, but I have to tell you that I don’t believe you’re mine. I’m certain that Clarke and I are a perfect match and you won’t be able to change that. I won’t let you get between us only because you feel like… we should be something because of what happened in the hospital and the men’s bathroom. It’s not like that and I’d be grateful if you just let it go and look around. Try to find your real perfect match and please don’t cling to me, yeah?"

Echo listened to him the whole time, the same facial expression on her face from beginning to end; neutral. Bellamy wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be something good or bad, but as soon as he finished and gave her a minute to gather what he had said, she shook her head and started laughing.

_Fantastic. She did get absolutely nothing._

"Bellamy… I don’t want to sound rude, mean or whatever, but do you know how much pain Clarke caused you?"

"Wait, wait, wait, what the-"

"No, let me finish! You got a concussion because Finn shoved you against a stake of the bar at the beach party. Remember, Finn only did that because he was jealous of you, mad at you for sleeping with his girl. She pulled you into her little love triangle drama and you were the one to suffer from it. You guys didn’t talk to each other for days after your dinner so we all guessed you guys were mad at each other and fought because of whatever reason. But I’m pretty sure I can tell you what you two were discussing."

Bellamy snorted and shook his head. Echo wasn’t even trying to hide her being jealous of Clarke or wanting her to stay away from him. She just continued to pretend as though Clarke was the bad guy and the real reason why they had been fighting even though the actual problem was her.

He parted his lips to say something but Echo held her hand up and stopped him from doing so. He rolled his eyes and lifted his left eyebrow for a brief moment before he looked back at her with annoyance on his face.

"It’s clear that Clarke has something against me but I don’t care much about it. Still, you told me that I should start being friends with everyone because it would help the game and give us a better chance at winning the money at the end of the tenth week. I bet Clarke figured that we grew closer to each other and confronted you about it at your dinner and if you haven’t talked since then, well you’re talking now, but I guess you know what I mean. I believe that you stood by your side of the argument."

Bellamy listened to Echo carefully with the intention of finding something in what she was saying that had a deeper meaning.

Of course he wanted everyone to get along and that included Echo and Clarke as well as Echo and him, but the way it all turned out, him now knowing that everything Echo had done was to keep Clarke away from him, stopped him from playing the nice guy and being the one who kept everyone together. He had been stupid enough to think that they could all work as a team.

"Okay, again, since it doesn’t seem like you heard what I was saying earlier, what happened between Clarke and me isn’t your business. Yes, the matching ceremony sucked because I didn’t choose her and I know that it wasn’t the right thing to do for the group, but you’re the last person I’m gonna take orders or whatnot from. Just do you and stop getting in between Clarke and me, yeah?"

Echo parted her lips to respond to him but before she could do so, the door to their bedroom opened. Bellamy spun his head around and smiled softly, thanking God in his mind, the moment he saw Emori sweeping her eyes from Echo to him. She nodded slowly then cleared her throat and smiled at him.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Emori asked.

That was the only chance of him getting away from Echo and he wouldn’t let that slip out of his fingers.

"Yeah, sure."

He turned around to the bed and grabbed both his notebook and his pen. Now that Echo had seen him writing something in his book, he had a feeling in his stomach that she would take it and read all of his poems. He didn’t want that to happen so instead of leaving his stuff on the bed, he took it with him to Emori, just to be safe.

"Sorry, Echo."

Echo waved him off and smiled lightly, which resembled more of a fake smile than a genuine one, but that didn’t matter to him. It just showed that Clarke had been right and that he shouldn’t have believed that Echo sincerely wanted to be better and do what she had to for the game.

Bellamy turned on his heels and made his way towards Emori, mouthing her a _thank you_ for saving him from his conversation with Echo. Emori laughed lightly but stopped a second later. Bellamy didn’t have to move his head around to know that it was because Echo probably sent her a death glare so he just stopped in front of Emori, who was still standing between the doorframe.

"How can I help you?" he asked softly.

Emori shook her head and lifted up her pointer finger, moving it around to show him that he should turn around as well. Bellamy frowned lightly but did as she told him to, turning back around.

"Closet."

"Closet?"

"Closet." Emori repeated and that was enough to make Bellamy walk a few steps back into the room before he opened the door to the closet and made his way inside. Emori followed him, he had absolutely no idea why, and closed the door behind her first, locking it after.

"May I ask what the hell is going on?"

Emori placed her hands on his back and shoved him to the dresser where his clothes were. He kept his eyebrows furrowed together until she made him stop in front of it and jumped up on the dresser next to his. He raised one of his brows and turned sideways so that he could look at Emori as he leaned his right arm on the dresser.

"Well. Get dressed, young man." Emori said with a smile on her lips.

Bellamy laughed and shook his head. "I am dressed as you can see."

"No, you aren’t. You’re wearing some sweatpants and socks. That’s not being dressed."

"Isn’t it though?" Emori shook her head which caused him to sigh. "Alright, how do you want me to dress then?"

# # # # # # # # # #

It took a while until Bellamy was all dressed up in something that Emori seemed to like and that was good enough for whatever the occasion was. Luckily, he had a say in the matter as well and that was how they created a look that he was comfortable in while also being good looking, which was exactly what Emori wanted.

He was wearing a grey pair of jeans with a blue flannel, a white shirt underneath and some white sneakers. His glasses were sitting on the bridge of his nose and his hair was just as messy as always, no big difference. Emori had dragged him into the bathroom before letting him wear the outfit they picked together and told him to shave everywhere; the emphasis was on her everywhere, otherwise she would’ve locked him into a room with Echo for the rest of the game and that wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

So now, after twenty minutes of getting ready and having different kind of arguments with Emori, he was done and ready for whatever the brunette had planned.

"Should I be scared or excited?" Bellamy asked as they walked out of the closet and smiled at Luna the second he noticed her sitting on her bed. The girl returned it then went back to reading.

"I wouldn’t say that you’re going to be excited, but I’m sure that you’re going to like it." Emori assured.

Bellamy nodded in response before he motioned Emori to lead the way, which she did. It confused him a little that they weren’t walking much further than a few steps away from his bedroom and stopped in front of the sex room. He raised his left eyebrow when they got there and turned around to take a look at Emori who was just smiling at him as if the only reason one would enter the sex room was… for having sex.

"Don’t worry, I won’t fuck you, even if I could use a good fuck right now."

Bellamy laughed at Emori’s comment but decided not to say anything in response. He made it clear with a simple hand movement that she should open the door. Emori walked in first and switched on the light but there wasn’t anything different about the layout of the room as far as he knew. Everything was positioned like it usually was; the bed was made and nobody was in sight.

He frowned.

"What exactly is your plan, Emori?"

Bellamy waited for the brunette to say something but instead of doing so, she walked to the balcony door, opened it and took two steps to the side. Only then he noticed why Emori brought him to this room.

The table that he knew was standing on the balcony was now covered by a white tablecloth. There were two plates, silverware, and two glasses of wine placed on top of it, but not only that. Three candles were positioned in the middle of the table, a long one and two shorter ones, and they were all burning already. 

The couch lounge, behind the table, was pushed back against the fence and had lots of pillows on it as well as two plates with chocolate lava cake, as far as he could see, and more silverware.

It didn’t look all too romantic but Bellamy knew what he was seeing in front of him was a remake of Clarke and his romantic dinner that ended in a disaster. To be honest, he should’ve known that something like this was about to happen after he caught Emori and Clarke cooking and baking in the kitchen and after Emori came to make sure that he was dressed suited for a dinner. He wasn’t going to complain about it, but he had to laugh because this was something Clarke probably planned for the whole week.

God, he really loved this girl.

"As much as I like watching you sweep your eyes around the balcony with that lil smile on your face, I need to leave you now."

Bellamy turned his head around to Emori and nodded slowly as his lip curled further upwards. He took the steps he needed to get to her slowly, then pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks, Emori." he said calmly.

"Please, don’t thank me. This was all Clarke’s idea; I only helped with the cooking. You know she’s a failure at this."

Bellamy laughed before he let go of Emori and smiled at her instead. "I know that, yeah."

"Good. Now sit down and wait for your princess to show up, I guess."

He snorted at that comment but didn’t add anything else as Emori made her way out of the sex room and closed the door behind her. He sighed softly as soon as he was alone and closed his eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the quiet around him before he reopened them and stepped out onto the balcony.

He hadn’t been on the balcony before but the view was still great from up there. You were able to look at the garden area but also at the other houses surrounding them. It was a nice and silent spot where they were staying for the ten weeks and hopefully he could enjoy the remaining time here with the motivation to win the game and without any more drama.

But in that moment, he only wanted Clarke to show up so that they could remake their romantic dinner and also talk things out.

While Bellamy was waiting for her to come, he swept his eyes over the balcony again but this time, he was already sitting on one of the two chairs, wine glass in his hand. He hadn’t noticed before that there were some fairy lights hanging on the fence and above the door to the balcony, but he liked them and it was something he would’ve expected Clarke to like as well. It gave the whole situation a cozy flair and he preferred that instead of trying hard to _really_ make it a romantic dinner.

He smiled softly then turned his attention back to the table itself. He knew what the meal was that was hidden by the lids covering the plates; he had seen Emori cooking it so the covers weren’t that necessary, but he also knew that Clarke wanted this to be as perfect as possible so he wouldn’t mock her for it. Maybe just a little bit.

Bellamy sighed before he brought his glass to his mouth and took a sip of his wine. He had no idea how Clarke knew that he preferred red over white since she never saw him drinking wine, but maybe she just knew him too well to know that red was the way to go. And if that was the case, he definitely wanted to know more about all the things she knew about him.

"I wasn’t sure if I should go with the wine or some soda instead."

Bellamy slowly placed his glass on the table as he spun his head around and met Clarke’s gaze. He smiled lightly before he swept his eyes up and down her, noticing that she was wearing the same red dress she had been once worn to a matching ceremony, as well as some white sneakers. She would probably get cold soon because of the breeze, but if that would happen, he could just take off his flannel and give it to her; that wouldn’t be such of a big deal.

But for now, he would let her wear her dress the way she was and rather comment on how good she looks than telling her to go grab a jacket.

"Wine’s fine," he replied first, getting up with a smile on his face and placing his glass back down on the table before he decided that it was the right moment to give her a compliment. "You look amazing, by the way. I like that dress on you."

_Cheesy._

Clarke laughed lightly then pushed a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Bellamy wasn’t sure if she did that because she was nervous or because that strand really annoyed her. Maybe both.

"Thank you. I can see you tried to look as best as possible without knowing what was going on… you succeeded, of course, as always."

Bellamy now laughed himself. "Thanks."

Clarke nodded in response then made her way to her own chair. The movement brought Bellamy back to what they were actually trying to do here and what occasion it was, so he went to the other side of the table, making sure that he was there in time before Clarke could push her chair back herself and pulled it out for her instead. The blonde looked at him with one raised eyebrow, her teeth biting her bottom lip before she let go of it and smiled softly at him as a thank you.

After that, Bellamy walked back to his own chair, which was positioned across from Clarke’s, and sat back down himself.

"As you know by now," he held up his glass of wine, "I already started drinking. I hope that is okay?"

Clarke laughed softly which made him smile immediately. He should hate that it was so easy for her to make him smile, but whenever it happened, he couldn’t be mad at her, not even for a second.

"It’s okay… I just wasn’t sure if I should really go for wine because," she cleared her throat, "We didn’t want to drink wine at the real dinner."

Bellamy nodded slowly and took a sip from his glass before he placed it back on the table.

Clarke was right, though. If what she wanted to achieve with this dinner was a remake of their disaster at the restaurant, they shouldn’t been drinking wine, but he didn’t see it as a bad thing. Maybe they should’ve kept the _romantic_ in their dinner before and that was the reason why everything went downhill around the end of the night.

To be honest, Bellamy didn’t even want to think about it anymore. He wanted to forget that this dinner even existed and was only interested in making this one much better so that he could remember this one for the future.

So he decided to do something that would fit in response to Clarke and probably would make the cloud of awkwardness around them fade away.

"Real dinner?" he frowned. "Sorry, have I forgotten about one we already seemed to have or? Cause I never say no to wine… suits a romantic dinner, doesn’t it?"

Clarke blinked a few times then laughed before she bit her bottom lip and worried on it for a while. He didn’t push her for an answer, just waited for her to say something as he analyzed her face.

She wasn’t the kind of person who wore a lot of makeup, just something simple: eyeshadow, mascara, highlight in the inner corner of her eyes, maybe a nude lipstick and that was it. _Yes,_ he knew stuff like that because Octavia loved to watch a bunch of videos on how girls do their makeup and as far as he could remember, she would be calling Clarke’s look a soft glam.

It was shocking how much he knew about makeup even though he didn’t have much to do with it. However, he didn’t have to think much about it anymore as soon as Clarke reached for her own glass of wine and looked him back in the eyes.

"No, we didn’t have one yet. This is our first dinner together… our first official _date._ "

Bellamy lifted his eyebrows with a smirk plastered on his lips. "Uh-huh."

"Or am I wrong?" Clarke asked, blinked a couple of times, but it was evident that she tried to do it as innocently as possible. Bellamy continued smirking as he lifted his glass up again.

"No, you’re not… let’s toast on it, shall we?”

The blonde nodded and raised up her own glass. "It’s not like you didn’t drink out of it already, but I’m gonna do it just because I’m nice."

Bellamy laughed and nodded slowly before he leaned his arm halfway above the table so that he could meet Clarke’s glass in the middle. She followed his movement and who would they be if they weren’t looking each other in the eyes while clinking their glasses together.

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

Clarke pulled back and sipped on her wine but never broke the eye contact with Bellamy so he didn’t either as he drank a bit of his own. He wasn’t sure if this was happening now because they were friendly with each other, even though they hadn’t talked about what was going on between them yet, or if the real reason was the sexual tension that had been rising between them today and the days before.

Bellamy wouldn’t deny that he missed being physical with Clarke and not in a soft and gentle way. He liked that from time to time, but he just missed giving her the _real_ pleasure that he could only imagine she needed herself. He wanted to get all sweaty again because of how much they would be moving.

He shook his head.

Wrong imagination at the wrong time.

He placed his glass back on the table and cleared his throat afterwards. He wasn’t sure if Clarke had a plan behind their dinner, wrong behind their _date_ , or if she just wanted it to be more of a spontaneous thing without planning much of what comes first, eating or talking, talking or eating, or both at the same time. He had no idea of how things should go but he didn’t have to think about it much either because Clarke raised her voice first.

"So…," she cleared her throat, "You better like Emori’s food or she’s going to kill you… and me."

Bellamy quirked up one of his eyebrows before he chuckled lightly, causing Clarke to do so as well.

"I’m sure she’s better at cooking than you, so I’m not scared." he stated.

"Hey! You’ve never eaten something that I cooked so how can you know that she’s better than me!?"

"Please…," He lifted the cover from both their plates and placed them on the floor instead, keeping his gaze on Clarke. "If you don’t cook, you don’t do it for a reason."

The blonde huffed but didn’t say anything else and just took her glass in her hand again before sipping the wine. He could only smile because he knew it didn’t actually offend her and that she was just trying to act like she was mad. It wasn’t the first time that she behaved like this, but he couldn’t say that it wasn’t adorable either.

"Anyway, you’re gonna eat it," Clarke said as she took the silverware from its spot on the table and pointed with her fork at him. "If you don’t eat it, I’ll feed you."

Bellamy smiled and grabbed his cutlery himself. "You know I have nothing against you feeding me and that this isn’t a threat for me, right?"

Clarke huffed again before she started digging into the chicken alfredo and mixed it in her plate a little bit. It didn’t stop Bellamy’s lip from curling upwards and his smile only grew wider.

Maybe, if he had the balls to be a man, he would tell her about his feelings for her. But only if he was able to stand up for them and if he knew that she was feeling the same. Sure, he could think about this dinner… _date_ as a sign of her feeling the same way, but it was clear that it was only to make a good memory compared to their disaster date last Friday. God, he would never forget it and about how stupid he had reacted.

Bellamy sighed. "Hm?" He lifted his gaze from his plate and looked Clarke in the face instead. She had a worried but also confused look on her face and he could only imagine what was going through her mind right now. So, instead of keeping to himself, he decided to just talk before they would start eating.

"Well," Bellamy cleared his throat and put his silverware back down. "I guess we should talk… about how things are, or were, between us? I mean, we haven’t talked much about it yet and even though things are getting back to normal without a real conversation, I think it’s important that both of us state our view on the little fight and discuss it a bit."

Clarke blinked a couple of times after he finished speaking then nodded slowly with a light smile on her face. "Sure," she said as she placed down her own silverware and brought her hands off the table, probably to lock them together on her lap. He knew her too well. "Do you want to go first, or?"

"I can, yeah."

"Okay."

"Alright." Bellamy exhaled one more time before he placed his elbows next to his plate and leaned a tiny bit forward.

"Overall, I want to apologize for my behavior towards you at the dinner, leaving you there instead of continuing the conversation, and listening to what exactly you had to say. Telling you to come and talk to me again once you were acting like a normal person again and not a five-year-old wasn’t fair and I didn’t behave any better because I just got up and ended the dinner."

He looked up at Clarke first to see if she was still listening to him. She was looking at him with a concentrated look on her face so he knew she was, this exhaling and continuing his sentence.

"I didn’t realize how much this Echo thing was bothering you and focused more on how I felt about all of this instead of how you felt. Besides, I understand now why Echo was, or is, so annoying to you and I want to apologize for that as well. I didn’t believe in what you were saying about her and I didn’t trust you. It was mostly my fault that we didn’t get to talk for a long time and that’s because I didn’t want to see what you were seeing all the time, with Echo I mean. On top of that, I’m sorry that I acted like an asshole at the matching ceremony and picked Sasha instead of you. I wanted to take you, God, I always want to, but in that moment, I let my heart rule my decision and I’m sorry that that happened."

Bellamy slid his fingers through his hair after he was done and kept his gaze on Clarke’s face. It was clear that she was still processing everything he had said, which was a lot, and he wouldn’t push her to comment on it. He just wanted her to know that he really felt bad about it and that he knew he was behaving like an ass towards her. She didn’t have to say anything in regards to it. All he wanted was Clarke to tell him her perspective and leave it behind them, for him and her, for them as one and for everyone else in the house.

And he was glad when she did.

"Okay… I’m actually not so sure of how to start," she laughed nervously. "But I know there’s… not really another way around this. Basically, I want you to know that I didn’t have much time to think about what I was going to say, _how_ I was going to speak with you about that topic and bringing it up at the dinner wasn’t a good thought of mine either. Just- I had a talk with a girl in the restroom when we were there and… she called us a couple and wished us good luck for the show, told me she would tune in as soon as it would air on TV."

Bellamy frowned and parted his lips to say something but he didn’t have the time to interrupt Clarke and to be honest, he didn’t want to either.

"I… kinda lost it a bit because everyone tells us we’re acting like a couple even though… it isn’t intentional and we have this agreement and shit," she sighed. "I just felt overwhelmed with everything, especially because we wanted the dinner to be anything but romantic and then this comment came. My thoughts went straight up to what I’ve…"

Clarke trailing off only confused Bellamy much more and he wasn’t sure if that was because she was about to make everything worse or if there was something she was hiding from him instead. Again, he wanted to ask, parted his lips already to speak, but Clarke just cleared her throat, smiled at him and continued speaking herself.

"You know I heard Echo picking out your outfit with you and I kinda came back to thinking about it after the girl left me alone in the bathroom of the restaurant. Everything rushed into my mind and I didn’t understand why you were getting so close to her and I guess I just let my emotions play too much into it and didn’t think about how you would feel if I destroyed our dinner with bringing it up, which I, in fact, did. I could’ve chosen a better time and I shouldn’t have acted so possessive and jealous because at the end of the day, you can do what you want."

"Clarke…"

"I mean, of course I’m glad to hear that you understand now why I didn’t want you to be close to her and to hear that you know that you should’ve believed in what I was saying is… great. I just… I just don’t want to be the reason why you stop being you, the good and nice guy to everyone. That’s just your personality, who you are."

Bellamy shook his head and sighed again. "Clarke…"

"No, please. I’m not done yet." He nodded slowly and placed his elbows back on the table after he had run his hand through his hair before, focusing on what the blonde was about to say. "I also want to apologize for… making you believe that I really thought Echo was more important to you than I am. That was never my intention and I don’t want you to think that it was. I’m… not stupid. I know it’s not truth and it wasn’t the first issue anyway. I just- I just didn’t know how far she’d go because of how she has been acting lately. So… yeah, I guess I was more mad at her than you but I let it out on you, which was wrong and which is why I’m apologizing."

Bellamy waited for a few seconds to see if there was anything more she would say but as soon as he saw Clarke nodding slowly to herself and reaching for her glass of wine again, he knew that she was indeed done with talking.

He wasn’t so sure what to say to it all. It only made sense and from what he understood, Clarke never intended on talking about Echo during their dinner but it happened because of particular reasons and he got that.

God, he didn’t even want to think much about it anymore. The whole week he had spent his time cleaning his mind, figuring stuff out, and trying to handle things in the best way possible, but after he realized his feelings for Clarke, that he was in love with the blonde, he had been acting differently already and it hadn’t bothered her at all. Maybe all they had to do was tell each other their point of view and that was it because he would definitely prefer that than making a fuss out of something that was in the past now.

And he hoped that Clarke was looking at it in the same way.

"Alright," Bellamy cleared his throat again then tilted his head to the side and smiled at her. "I appreciate that you’ve been so open with me right now and I want to tell you first that the way you had acted was valid. Like I said, I didn’t think about how this ‘befriending everyone’ would look in your eyes, especially in regards to Echo, and I understand your behavior now much better. Still… I want to close that chapter and never open it again. We both made mistakes but we were both in the right as well and I think we can agree on talking to each other before we make another move. What do you think?"

Halfway through his sentence, Clarke placed her glass back down and listened to what he was saying, looking at him with a light smile on her lips, which made it clear that the answer to his question would be positive rather than negative.

Of course he had to be right.

"Fine, Mr. Blake," he laughed but rolled his eyes at the same time. "But I got something for you."

Bellamy’s expression turned into a confused and shocked one as soon as that second part of the sentence came out of her mouth. He shook his head and furrowed his brows further together.

"What? Clarke, no…"

The blonde shook her head with a smile on her face and rose up from her seat. "You’ll like it."

"Dammit, Clarke, you don’t need to give me anything. Keep it… no, Clarke!"

She wasn’t listening to him at all and just walked over to the couch lounge pushed against the fence of the balcony. Bellamy sighed heavily as he placed his hand on his forehead and watched her grab something from behind the cushion before she turned around and hid whatever she was about to give him behind her back as soon as she was facing him again. She slowly walked towards him and with every step she took, her smile got brighter and brighter.

"Clarke, c’mon. Did you get me something because I gave you that bracelet?" He swept his eyes to her wrist briefly, noticing that she was wearing it right now, too, before he looked up to her again.

"No." she said, stopping in front of him. "I got it for you because I want you to remember me. I want you to have something from me that you’ll keep by your side closely and that is something that matters to the two of us."

The more Clarke explained what her gift for him was, the less he understood what exactly it could be. He knew that it was something that connected them and that it had to be something he could use every day, but he couldn’t figure it out that quickly. However, he didn’t need to because Clarke placed it on the table in front of him and bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling.

Bellamy raised his eyebrow as he looked at a black and longer box, just as simple as the box that had Clarke’s bracelet in it. He turned his head and tilted his chin up to look at the blonde, who was still trying to keep herself from grinning too much. He sighed and shook his head, smiling lightly now himself, before he took the box in his hand.

"Fine, Griffin. I’ll open it, look inside, and give it back to you as soon as I know what it is." he muttered.

"Definitely not happening."

Bellamy snorted before he opened the box slowly, unsure if he really wanted to see what was inside of it, but when he did, both of his eyebrow shot up to his forehead and he closed it immediately, turning to Clarke.

"No."

"Bellamy! You haven’t even seen the highlight of it yet!" Clarke whined, yet still excited.

"I don’t need to see the highlight of it Clarke. I can’t keep it." he shook his head.

"Bellamy… please."

He sighed once again but this time, he decided to do what Clarke wanted and took the gift out of the box. He still thought she shouldn’t have bought it for him, but to say it wasn’t beautiful and that he didn’t like it would be a lie.

Bellamy took out the watch that was a dark color, close to black, with a brownish leather strap. The signs standing for the hours and minutes were in gold as well as the hand. What surprised him most, and what was probably the highlight Clarke was talking about, was that there wasn’t the actual numbers of 12 and 6 but instead there was a moon for 12 and a sun for 6. _The sun and the moon._

"Clarke…"

"Um… so, when you were, when you hit your head against the stake, I understood why you got me the bracelet. I mean, you could’ve chosen any other one, I think, or I’m just putting too much thought into this but… I’m pretty sure you meant to show us… the sun and the moon. I’m the sun and… you’re the moon."

Bellamy closed his eyes for a few seconds and shook his head slowly, hearing what had been in his mind the first time he had seen the bracelet lying on the table in the store they went to on their first date. He couldn’t believe that she actually got him a watch, which was beautiful on its own, that matched her bracelet. She could’ve gotten him a necklace or a bracelet as well, but again, it seemed like she knew more about him than he had thought because a watch fit much better to him than any other jewelry.

"This…" Bellamy smiled softly and reopened his eyes before he quickly placed the watch in the box again, put in on the table and rose up from his seat. He didn’t even say anything else before he cupped Clarke’s face in his hands, his pals against her cheeks, and collided their lips together.

It took a few seconds until the blonde returned his kiss but that was only understandable because it happened out of nowhere, but there wasn’t anything to say. Words couldn’t describe how thankful he was for this gift, even if he hadn’t asked for it, and how much he loved her. So instead of saying anything, he just put all of his emotions into this one kiss, showing her exactly what he wanted to say but couldn’t yet.

The kiss was passionate, yet tender and gentle. There was a little bit of force but Bellamy mostly kept it simple and slow because he wanted her to enjoy the kiss as much as he did and he knew she was when she wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head to the side to deepen the kiss, smiling a little against his lips.

Bellamy wasn’t sure if that was enough, if every feeling he shoved into that one kiss was enough to show her how much he fucking loved her, but even if it didn’t, he would help her realize. He would make her understand, he would confirm that the only person he wanted in his life, right by his side, was her.

Clarke Griffin and no one else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there won't be coming a new chapter next friday but therefore i'll post a one-shot i've been working on for january joy (created by @pawpinter on tumblr)! i can't wait to post it! 
> 
> as usual, comments and kudos are appreciated. 
> 
> much love xo


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys!  
> i'd like to apologize since i haven't uploaded in a while! i had exam weeks and focused on them before i wanted to get back to writing and finish posting perfect match. BUT i'm back and from now on there are going to be regular uploads again (fr., sat. or sun.)! we're almost at the end of this pic and as sad as it is, i can't wait for you to read the upcoming chapters.
> 
> before i'm speaking too much again, enjoy this one!

Week 7, Day 44 – Friday. Los Angeles. 8 pm.

"Can you believe that this is the first time you’re attending the movie night?"

Clarke turned her head over her shoulder to look at Luna who was walking behind her as they left their bedroom.

She wasn’t wrong, though.

It really was the first time Clarke was participating in the movie night with everyone else and she wasn’t sure how she should feel about it this time around. They had Netflix installed on their TV as a congratulations once Octavia and Lincoln were confirmed as a perfect match. Usually they held the movie night on Saturdays, but this week no one was really interested in throwing a house party so they decided to push it forward.

Still, Clarke wasn’t sure if she was glad about it or not. She didn’t like any of the movies the rest of the group had picked the weeks before and that was why she hadn’t attended until now. They still hadn’t decided on a movie yet for tonight, so she would try to suggest something that she could actually enjoy as well.

"I know, Luna… I’m just not sure if this is a great thing. The last two times y’all chose a horror movie and I’m definitely not going to watch if that’s the case tonight too... I hate them." Clarke replied as she descended the stairs.

"Well, let’s hope that we won’t watch a horror movie then."

Clarke lifted up her thumb to show Luna that she agreed on that and kept walking down the stairs with a smile on her lips.

After Wednesday and her dinner with Bellamy, things got a lot better. They had talked everything out and were now on the best track to getting back to normal, but it was still slightly different and Clarke couldn’t exactly figure out why. It seemed like both Bellamy and her were still distant from each other and to be honest, she knew why she still hesitant, but not his reason for taking a step back too.

On top of that, they hadn’t had sex yet. They were flirting with each other, sometimes directly but mostly indirectly, and they were both touching each other more often now. Clarke wasn’t sure if there was a reason why they hadn’t fucked yet or if it was just because the timing just hadn’t been right yet. Sharing a bed didn’t seem to help in that case because even if they were still awake at the same time, their roommates were as well.

In conclusion: things were better between them now but not like they had been before all the fighting _and_ Clarke wanted to have sex again.

Soon.

Very soon.

"I believe everyone’s going to be there today, right?" Clarke asked as she walked into the living area with Luna right by her side.

"Usually everyone is, yeah. I don’t think today will be any different."

"Mrs. Griffin is really going to watch her first movie tonight with the whole group? This is surprising."

Clarke stopped and moved her head to the left side, looking at Murphy who just came from the terrace and entered the living room alongside them. The blonde laughed lightly and shook her head before she turned around completely and let Murphy pull her into a hug.

"Haven’t talked in a while, short-y." Murphy said before he pulled away and smiled at her.

"Stop making fun of my height, you idiot." Murphy’s smile turned into a grin, whereupon Clarke rolled her eyes. He would never stop calling her that so she had to start getting used to it. "Fine," she added, folding her arms in front of her chest at the same time, "We can talk after the movie if you want."

Murphy nodded and took a step closer to her. Clarke narrowed her eyes at him and took a step back as soon as he raised up his hand. She could imagine what he wanted to do, ruffle his hand through her hair, and she wasn’t about it. In no way would she let him do it and the fact that he laughed while letting his hand drop next to his side again showed her that she was right.

"Alright, Griffin. After the movie." With that, he made his way to the couch and dropped himself on the L of it. Clarke could only shake her head, lip curled upwards, and follow him with Luna next to her side.

It took a while before everyone was downstairs and seated either on the couch or on the carpet in front of the sofa. Some of the participants decided to work on cooking dinner instead of leaving it for Bellamy as usual and were fine with watching the movie from the kitchen area instead.

They had everything they needed: some random snacks found in the cupboards from the last trip of grocery shopping, soda, beer, water, and enough blankets and pillows for everyone.

Clarke found herself sitting on the couch between Monty and Bellamy, who she shared a blanket with. At first, she didn’t mind that Monty was sitting next to her right side, she even thought it was better than someone else whispering into her ear about the whole movie. However, when Bellamy sat down next to her and his unmistakable scent caught up with her nose, she knew that Monty sitting next to her was a mistake, one she couldn’t fix.

"Okay, which movie do you guys want to watch?" Roan asked as he dimmed down the living and kitchen area by dropping down the shades and pulling the curtains closed in front of the windows.

"Hello!?" Lexa shouted, "We need fucking light to be able to cook, Roan. Turn on the damn light!"

Clarke turned her head over her right shoulder and looked at Lexa first, whose face showed how annoyed she was. It made her smile a little, maybe because it was the first time she actually saw her frustrated by something. Usually she kept her feelings to herself and tried to keep her facial expression as neutral as possible, but now it wasn’t working at all and for some reason, Clarke liked that.

"Calm down, Lexa. Turn on the light in the kitchen then, but we want it dark over here, please."

Lexa repeated Roan’s word quietly, which made Costia and Echo, who were helping make dinner, laugh. Clarke wasn’t sure if she really wanted to eat something that was made by Echo. The girl would probably add poison to her plate so that she would have the green light to get to Bellamy.

Yes, Clarke was still annoyed by her even after she talked things out with Bellamy and it would stay that way for the rest of the show. Echo made it very clear, right from the first day they got here, that she wasn’t going to let anybody tell her what she could or couldn’t do so there was a likely chance that she’d continue trying to get closer to Bellamy take him away from her.

Clarke was sure that this wouldn’t end without a fight.

"Now that it’s dark enough for the movie… which one do you guys want to watch?"

Clarke turned her head back to the front and looked at Roan, who was now standing next to the TV, but from the corner of her left eye, she could see Bellamy’s gaze on her face. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling and moved her head to the side so that she could meet his gaze.

"What?" she asked quietly.

Bellamy just shook his head before he placed his hand on her cheek and made her look to the front again. Clarke frowned because of that but understood what he wanted from her as soon as she could feel his lips against her ear.

"Remember how much Harper freaked out on Wednesday because of the sex talk we had after the Truth Booth?" Bellamy murmured in her ear, whereupon Clarke nodded her head a tiny bit. "Well… Miller told me that he woke up around 7 am., and the reason was because Harper and Monty were having _sex._ "

Clarke bit her lower lip because of the way Bellamy emphasized the last word. Maybe he did that because he wanted her to understand that _Monty and Harper_ were fucking after they talked about sexual topics and both of them acted like it was something bad, but Clarke knew that he did it for other reasons as well.

This was one of the few moments where they were flirting indirectly. She was aware that Bellamy was trying to make her understand that he was down to have sex again as much as she was, yet it seemed like something was stopping the both of them from taking the first step every time they started flirting with each other. To be honest, that didn’t change the fact that Clarke wanted to have sex with Bellamy again and soon, so if he wouldn’t make a move towards her, she would do it.

Starting now.

She didn’t have to do anything to get Bellamy to look back at Roan and listen to whatever he was saying since he already had his face turned away from her. It was easy for her to scoot closer to his side and place her hand on his right thigh underneath the blanket, only for leverage of course, before she leaned in and talked against his ear as well.

"I doubt that they didn’t have sex before, but I’m sure they just got some ideas and images in their mind after the sex talk, like… _everyone else_."

Clarke pulled away and leaned back against her cushion before she swept her eyes from Roan to Jasper and from him back to Roan. They were clearly discussing which movie they should pick and even though Clarke didn’t want to be here if they would decide to watch a horror one, she didn’t listen to their conversation at all. Instead, she waited for Bellamy to respond to what she had just murmured into his ear but first he gave his own thoughts on the movie decision, which surprised her.

"Why don’t we just watch a classic? MIB? That’s on Netflix, right?"

"It is on Netflix, yeah, but not everyone likes action." Maya replied, whereupon Roan groaned.

"Well, just because you want to watch a romantic movie doesn’t mean we’re not going to watch one at all!"

"But nobody talked about a romantic movie!? We just want something fun to watch and not something where we need to really focus on the storyline and backstories of the characters…" Maya said loudly.

Clarke rolled her eyes and turned to look at Bellamy instead of focusing on the debate the group was having. He wasn’t facing her but was talking to Wells who was sitting to his left. For a brief second, she thought of leaning over and placing a kiss on his neck since the room was dimly lit and nobody would see _that_ much, but she didn’t want to start something without being one hundred percent sure Bellamy was down for sexual activities too.

So instead of leaning towards him, she just turned her head back to the TV. It seemed like they had finally picked a movie now anyways, American Pie, which meant that it was time to stop having conversations and focus on the movie. It worked pretty well at first, but not long after sitting in silence, only listening to what the characters on the TV were saying with little action, Clarke found herself resting her head on Bellamy’s shoulder, eyes closed and far gone from reality.

# # # # # # # # # #

Clarke never imagined to be woken up from someone else interrupting her sleep in the way that was happening now. She hadn’t thought of it before, hadn't even dreamt of it, yet she opened her eyes at the same time she pressed her thighs together.

Her head was still leaning on Bellamy’s shoulder, that’s how she fell asleep anyway, and the TV in front of them was still playing the movie the group had picked maybe some minutes, if not an hour, ago. However, there wasn’t much time to think about what was going on in her surroundings as soon as she felt a thumb pressing against her clit, which caused a light moan to slip out between her lips.

As soon as that moan left her mouth, she bit her bottom lip and lifted her head from Bellamy’s shoulder, looking around to see if anyone heard her but the volume of the TV seemed to be loud enough. After that, she turned her head around and fixed her gaze on Bellamy, who she thought was the only one who’d have their thumb on her clit and by now, as stupid as it might sound, she just _knew._ Yet, his eyes were fixed on the screen in front of them, acting as if he hadn’t planned to make her come in a few.

"Bellamy…," she whispered, "Your hand."

The only thing she got in response from him was his hand pushing her thighs apart, spreading them as far as possible while she was still sitting between Monty and him. She wasn’t sure if Monty would figure something out but at the moment, he was watching the movie, just like everyone else.

Clarke knew this shouldn’t be happening now. This wasn’t how she imagined the foreplay before sex she had been looking forward to since forever. But on the other hand, the risk of someone realizing what was going on and her desire of feeling Bellamy _everywhere_ was too much to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

With that thought, the blonde placed her head on his shoulder again and lifted her left leg up so that she could throw it over Bellamy’s right one. Afterwards, she scooted a bit closer to avoid Monty’s leg and any chance of him feeling her leg quivering against his because there was no way she would be able to keep her legs from trembling, not with what Bellamy could do with his hands.

Apparently, he had been waiting for her to somehow confirm that she was down with him doing whatever he wanted while being around eighteen other participants.

God, the thrill…

"This is the only time I ask you to be quiet, Clarke." Bellamy murmured and it went straight to her core. Sometimes, she forgot how deep, dark, and raspy his voice was, but it was enough to make her even more wet.

In response, Clarke nodded slowly and blinked a couple of times before she cleared her throat and kept her own eyes fixed on the screen. It wouldn’t stay like this, she would definitely have to close her eyes and bite down on her lower lip as soon as Bellamy would insert one of his fingers, if not more, into her cunt. She knew it and she would be lying if she said the thought of it didn’t make her pussy throb.

_That’s what it feels like after not having sex for more than a week,_ she thought.

Bellamy took his hand off her thigh and at first, Clarke was afraid that he changed his mind, not now after teasing her like that. However, he only brought his hand up to his mouth and wet a few of his fingers, three maybe, before he let them disappear under the blanket again.

Being excited was an understatement of what Clarke was feeling the second he slid his pointer and middle finger between her folds while pressing his thumb against her clit once again. She blamed it all on the fact that they hadn’t been intimate with each other for a long time.

As soon as Bellamy started circling his thumb on her clit, pressing harder and trailing his fingers up and down between her slit, she bit her bottom lip and tightened the grip of her leg on Bellamy’s. She didn’t know how to be quiet; there wasn’t a situation yet where she had to be and she had no idea if she could actually stop herself from moaning, crying out, and whining. Especially not with how much she wanted, _needed,_ Bellamy to make her come again.

She knew it, and he probably did too, as soon as she started circling her hips slowly for more friction and to show Bellamy that what he was doing so far wasn’t enough. She understood that he wanted to build it up, to go slow only to make her go crazy and push her orgasm back, but she had been waiting for this moment and couldn’t wait any longer.

"Bellamy…," she whispered once again. " _Do. Something._ "

"Impatient." he replied, certainly with a smirk on his lips. She could hear it in the tone of his voice.

She wanted to grab him by the chin and make him look at her so he could understand how _desperate_ she was for this, but there wasn’t the time to do so, nor to even remind herself that she had to keep her moans in, because just then, Bellamy decided to insert his fingers inside her cunt and as deep as he could with the way they were sitting. Clarke shut her eyes closed and another moan slipped out of her mouth, louder than the one before.

Bellamy started pulling his fingers back, only a little bit before he scissored his way deep inside her again. He did that a few times, pulling back slowly only to push back inside her, but while doing so, he kept rubbing her clit in the same pace he begun fingering her soaking cunt.

It was hard for Clarke to keep her mouth shut, to not tell him how exactly he should be pleasing her and to just kiss him right here, right now, around everyone else. But she couldn’t and she knew that as soon as Bellamy increased the pace of his fingers inside her.

"Oh…," she moaned quietly.

Bellamy cleared his throat as if he wanted to tell her again that she had to be quiet, but his actions were showing the opposite. He had just increased his pace but as if it wasn’t enough, as if he wanted to hear more of her moans, he quickened his thrusts once again and made sure that he was circling her clit with the same rhythm.

"Uh…" She begun rocking down on his fingers, even if multiple people were sitting on the couch with them. There wasn’t a second she thought about the others because the way Bellamy crooked his fingers inside her, pushing deeper and deeper to the point where she knew he could reach _that_ spot inside her if he would just dig in a little bit deeper, made her forget about her surroundings. "Shit-"

"Shh… be quiet." Bellamy whispered, whereupon she nodded and grinded down on his fingers even more than before.

The position wasn’t the best but it still felt incredibly good. She missed feeling him inside her cunt. She missed getting all wrecked because of him and coming while biting her lower lip so hard that it would give her that metallic taste again.

"He really said that? Oh my God!"

Clarke snapped her eyes open and moved her head from Bellamy’s shoulder, looking at Jasper who was laughing at something Steve, she believed, said. She didn’t care about the damn movie, she wanted to come and get fucked by Bellamy, yet, it didn’t seem like him fingering her right now was leading to it.

Meaning, she had to use her own hands.

The blonde laid her head back on Bellamy’s shoulder but stopped rocking down on his fingers. It didn’t stop him from pushing deeper and speeding up again, which caused her to moan once more. She bit her lower lip immediately after that sound escaped her mouth but didn’t wait for Bellamy to say anything about being quiet. Instead, she leaned over as far as it was possible in her current position and with her legs trembling already and slid her left hand into his sweatpants.

At first, her eyes widened, her pussy throbbed even more and another moan slipped through her lips. He wasn’t wearing briefs underneath his sweatpants, which was a massive turn on. It seemed like he had planned this today but she wouldn’t complain about it. He was already half hard and the second she wrapped her small hand around his length, she wanted to stick her head under the blanket so she could suck him off.

But she couldn’t. So instead, she just tightened the grip around his dick, whereupon Bellamy shifted on the cushion he was sitting on and spread his legs further apart.

Unfortunately, Clarke didn’t have the time to start jerking Bellamy off because someone around them decided to turn on the light again. She quickly took her hand out of his sweatpants while Bellamy himself pulled his digits out of her cunt, whereupon she released a quiet whimper. She took her head away from his shoulder as well as her leg from his and threw it over her right one instead before she swept her eyes over the participants to figure out if anyone saw what happened.

Luckily, no one seemed to look in their direction, which meant that they were minding their own business.

Clarke exhaled and rolled her eyes then slid down further on the couch with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She had really thought that this would be the moment she would have an orgasm again, that it would lead to them leaving the group to have sex upstairs, but it really didn’t seem like it.

"I’m sorry." The blonde turned her head to the left, facing Bellamy, who was staring at the TV. She frowned lightly and fixed her gaze on the screen in front of them herself. Only then did she notice that the movie was paused and that other people were talking around them again.

She turned her head around and faced Bellamy again before she leaned forward and kissed his ear softly.

"It’s okay. There’ll be another time." she whispered with a little smile on her lips.

As soon as she pulled away Bellamy looked at her with his lip curled upwards too and nodded slowly. He then leaned over to give her a quick peck on the lips, which she returned, before he turned his head to Wells again and started having another conversation with him.

Maybe Clarke should be embarrassed for feeling so horny and desperate for wanting to have sex with Bellamy again, but she couldn’t help it. If she wouldn’t feel him close to her again soon, their scents and moans filling a room, she would have to come up with a whole new plan to find a way of having sex with him again.

Not in a week.

Not in a few days.

Soon.

Very, very soon.

# # # # # # # # # #

Week 7, Day 45 – Saturday. Los Angeles. 10 am.

"Are you planning on picking Roan again? I mean… are you even sure that he’s your match?"

"To be honest, I don’t know. We’re getting along and the only other person I could see being my match is Monty, but he’s with Harper, so."

"Okay, but did you talk to Monty?"

Bellamy sat up from the weight bench and turned around, looking at his two friends standing in front of a large mirror to his right. Miller took a seat on one of the gymnastic balls in the training room while Zeke was working on his arms.

"Guys," he said, trying to get their attention but of course they weren’t listening to him.

"I haven’t. What’s there to tell him? ‘Hey, maybe your strategy is a bit wrong. I believe we’re a match’?"

"Well… it’s not wrong, though. You guys have been friends since the beginning and if you don’t really see a future with Roan…"

"You have to be kidding me." Bellamy muttered to himself as he rose up from the weight bench.

"That’s… not it." Miller joked. "The issue is that I have no idea who of the two could be my match, considering that everyone else is out of the game. And if Monty is falling in love with Harper already, I’m surely not going to get between them."

Bellamy hit the back of Miller’s head next, causing him to stop talking and look at him instead. He just raised one of his brows at his friend before he dropped onto the floor, resting his spine against the mirror.

"You don’t agree, I see." Miller said as he turned his head around to face Bellamy.

He snorted and shook his head while placing his feet on the floor and resting his arms on top of his knees.

"That’s not it," he said as he motioned Miller to give him a bottle of water. His friend did so, throwing it in his direction. Bellamy caught it before he opened it. "I just don’t know who’s a match."

Now Zeke put the weights away and sat down on one of the benches across from Miller and him.

"How so?"

"What do you mean ‘how so’?"

Zeke tilted his head to the side and raised his left eyebrow before he threw a towel at Bellamy’s face. He caught it and placed it next to him as he sent a glare at his friend before he sighed and nodded his chin at him.

"So?" he asked, still clueless.

Zeke shrugged his shoulders and placed his elbows on his knees, leaning forward.

"Well, you say you don’t know who’s a match, meaning you think all of us, including Miller and Roan, Harper and Monty, are no match."

Bellamy rolled his eyes before shaking his head slightly.

"No, that’s not what I was trying to say."

"Well." Miller said grinning, "Then it’s about Clarke and you, isn’t it?"

Bellamy furrowed his brows together before he started laughing, shaking his head once again. After that, he hit the back of it against the mirror, breathing out one time.

"Nah, it’s not. Besides, I do believe that we’re a match, so."

"Wait, wait, wait." Zeke started smiling, whereupon Bellamy’s own lip curled up at the corner of his mouth. "What happened that changed your mind? As far as I knew, you never thought of her as your match and last MC, you even picked Sasha instead of Clarke."

Bellamy sighed slightly then nodded. He was aware of how things seemed to be for an outsider who had no idea what had been going on the past week. From one day to another, Clarke and Bellamy weren’t talking to each other, avoiding one another, and the next day everything was fine again. No one knew what happened between them, except for a few people, and to be honest, it wasn’t fair to anyone. But at the same time, he wanted to get past it because things really did get better.

Clarke and him weren’t at the point they had been before the whole drama begun, but they were close to getting there again. Apart from him, and her as well, still being a little bit distant, everything was normal. They were joking around with each other, they were falling asleep in each other’s arms, and yesterday they were… kind of close to having sex again after a long time.

So, yes, he wanted to forget what happened between them beforehand, that one fucked up week, and just continue focusing on the game.

Maybe, at the end of the day, they would both get a happy ending.

"Yeah, I know," he finally answered, "A mistake I’m never going to make again. It’s been Clarke from the beginning and it’s going to be her at the end."

"Now, that’s what I call love." Miller stated, placing his hand on Bellamy’s shoulder and squeezing it. In response, Bellamy just laughed lightly and nodded before bringing up another topic.

"Enough about me. Have you thought about your match, Zeke? Anything new about your current situation?"

"Please…," Miller added, "How bad is it to share a room with the person you see as your match and… well, Murphy?"

Zeke laughed quietly, which made Bellamy feel better about asking how he was doing at the moment, but there was the chance that his laugh was more of a nervous one. It turned out that it was neither of what Bellamy thought.

"It’s… I don’t even know what to think of what’s going on. I don’t want to say that Raven played me because she didn’t. Nothing much happened between us but you know, Bellamy, that I had been eyeing her for a while before I got to talk and get closer to her. Then out of nowhere, Murphy is the man? For what reason? And I’m not the only person who ‘suffers’ from it but Emori was with Murphy from the beginning and then he just ditches her? C’mon, that shit ain’t fair. I don’t care that much about it, but I just feel fucking sorry for Emori."

Bellamy nodded slowly while Miller next to him let out a sigh. Bellamy wasn’t sure if this situation was worse than what happened with Clarke, Raven, and Finn.

He had no interest in any kind of drama anymore, but it seemed like it wasn’t over yet. Raven and Murphy both should talk to Zeke and Emori otherwise the situation could only get worse. Besides that, Echo was still trying to get closer to him even though he told her to let go and search for her perfect match.

At this point, Bellamy had no idea if the matching ceremony would be any better than the last one.

"Seriously?" Miller started. "I think that’s the right attitude. You didn’t do anything wrong and if Raven wants to play this game, then she should. Same goes for Murphy, to be honest. What he’s doing right now is even worse because he already was 6-inches-deep into Emori and kept saying they’re a perfect match. Best believe Emori has feelings for him and that’s just the worst thing you can do."

For a few seconds, the only thing that could be heard in the room was their laughter. Maybe the situation wasn’t funny, yet Miller’s comment really made it a little less frustrating. However, it died out as soon as they all heard someone clear their throat, close to the door, and for good reasons.

"Do I get to know why you guys are laughing so much? Or why you decided to train with Zeke instead of doing it with me, as per usual?"

Bellamy cleared his throat before he pushed himself off the floor and pulled his sweatpants up so that they were sitting on his waist.

"Nah, it’s nothing to talk about, Murphy."

"He’s right… and we just finished training anyway, sorry. Next time." Miller added, getting up himself.

"Sure. Y’all prefer working out with Zeke, I see. Just don’t ask me next time, it’s fine."

"What?" Bellamy laughed lightly and shook his head at the same time.

"Seriously, it’s not our fault that you’d rather spend time with Raven than talking to us. Deal with how things are now if you decide to be such an asshole already."

"Miller…" Bellamy turned his head to Zeke who slowly got up from the weight bench and grabbed his towel at the same time. "It’s okay, don’t worry. Imma go take my shower."

"No? You’re not leaving just because Murphy decides to show up and act like the victim."

Bellamy sighed and ran his hand over his face before he turned to look at Murphy.

"Listen, I know it wasn’t our best move to not ask or tell you that we’re gonna work out, but Zeke asked us two days ago and we knew you two wouldn’t get along. We’ve trained with you before and that was the first time Zeke joined us so what’s the issue?"

Murphy tilted his head to the side and sighed. "Really, Bellamy? You think I couldn’t be civil around Zeke?"

"Oh, so ‘Y’all prefer working out with Zeke, I see’ should show us that you can be?" Miller dropped.

"Alright, I don’t wanna cause any drama so it’s better if I really leave now…"

"Zeke, no!" Bellamy turned his face to Miller as soon as he noticed that they both said the same in unison. He smiled softly, which Miller returned, before he himself turned back to look at Murphy.

"I know this seems unfair to you but there are a lot of unfair things going on right now, don’t you think? It doesn’t excuse that we didn’t ask you, but I don’t want to fight because of such a stupid reason? Next time, you just train with us again and that’s it. No need to ease Zeke out."

Murphy swept his eyes between Bellamy, Miller, and Zeke for a few seconds before he snorted and shook his head. It was clear to Bellamy that Murphy didn’t like them hanging out with Zeke, but that was just stupid to him. Everyone should get along with each other but in situations like this, where someone takes someone’s match away for no particular reason, it wasn’t possible.

So, at the end of the day, Miller and him made the right call to leave Murphy out of their training session and do it with Zeke, since he had asked.

"Whatever, guys, seriously. Thought we were homies but y’all ditch me for someone over sensitive."

Bellamy rolled his eyes. "That’s fucking ignorant."

"So is ditching me because I’m trying to find my perfect match."

Before Bellamy, Miller, or Zeke could reply to that, Murphy turned around and left the exercise room again. Bellamy had to rub his forehead with his hand to stop himself from overthinking and putting himself back into stupid situations because he wanted to help everyone out. This wasn’t his business. This was something between Murphy, Zeke, Raven, and Emori and even though he considered each of them as a close friend, he had to focus on other things than getting involved in their drama.

"I’m sorry for making trouble, guys… If I knew this was the outcome-"

"Zeke, stop, I’m serious. It’s not your fault. We decided against Murphy one time and he has no reason to play the victim now." Bellamy nodded to support what Miller was saying. "Just… don’t let him bring you down or whatever. You did nothing wrong. It’s all perfectly fine and know that you can come to us, yeah?"

Zeke laughed shyly but nodded to himself before he cleared his throat. "Thanks, guys."

Bellamy waved him off and only squeezed Zeke’s left shoulder when he passed him to walk out of the room, leaving him alone with Miller. He sighed before he turned around to face his friend, who looked annoyed, exhausted, and tired all at once.

"Go take a shower, dude."

Miller raised an eyebrow, then snorted. "You don’t look any better, all sweaty and shit. But hey, I guess someone’s gonna like seeing you like this."

"Fuck off, idiot." Bellamy smiled at his friend before he turned around and made his way out of the room himself.

"I’m just saying!" Miller shouted behind him, whereupon he lifted his left hand to show him his middle finger. In response, he only got Miller laughing but that was hella fine. As long as they still could, he wouldn’t complain.

# # # # # # # # # # 

12 pm.

"Let’s be serious, this doesn’t feel like a reality, dating show at all does it?"

Clarke frowned while Jasper and Costia were rather laughing at what Maya just said. The four of them were spending their time at the pool outside of the mansion. It was too sunny to be in the house all day so they had decided to take a break from finding their matches, only surrounding themselves with friends and resting for a day, even though the matching ceremony was only a day away.

Jasper and Maya were in the pool, lying together on the flamingo while Clarke was sitting at the edge of the pool, hands placed next to her thighs for leverage so she could lean back. She had sunglasses on and made sure that she had enough sun cream all over her skin so that she wouldn’t get burned by the sun. Costia was standing in the water, a few meters away from her, and had sunglasses on as well.

"It doesn’t feel like it, absolutely not. Maybe it’s because most of us are actually getting along."

"Oh c’mon!" Clarke turned her head to Jasper and Maya, who were cuddled together, and smiled softly at them before Jasper raised his voice. "There was so much drama going on in the first four, five weeks you can’t tell me that we’re all getting along."

Jasper wasn’t wrong. The first few weeks were horrible, full of fighting and drama. It went so far that Bellamy even had an accident and spent three days at the hospital. Clarke hadn’t watched any seasons beforehand, not full ones, but she knew that nothing like that had happened before. Maybe they were getting along now, but it took them a long time to get there.

"I agree on that, but is there anyone that is still making any kind of trouble right now? I mean… the whole group as one is quite nice to each other or am I missing something?" Costia asked.

Clarke had a name on the tip of her tongue but she wasn’t here to involve anyone else in her own little drama and it was time to let loose of the topic anyway. Nothing had happened that upset her and Echo distanced herself as well. Perhaps the other girl finally realized what she had done and figured that it was time to step back as well as _really_ trying to help this group.

Or maybe not.

"Hey, what you guys talking about?"

Clarke had no intention in turning around nor looking over her shoulder as soon as she heard Echo’s voice. She knew that no one else surrounding her right now had a problem with her since the only thing they witnessed was her being rude in the waiting room. Besides, Clarke didn’t want to be the bad guy and tell her to leave when the people around her had no reason for hating Echo.

So, instead of making it about her, she kept quiet and let the others talk, which they luckily did.

"Um… actually, Echo, we were having our own conversation, sorry."

Clarke quirked her left eyebrow under her sunglasses but didn’t make a move to take them off either. It kind of surprised her that Costia chose to say that, especially since Echo and her had been spending a lot of time together before with Lexa and Luna. Yet, Clarke also knew that Costia was one of her friends, so it made a little bit of sense.

"Well…," Echo laughed lightly, "You must be talking about something super private then. But since the camera team is around you, I suspect it’s not that."

"They’re around us because we’re constantly getting filmed and they need content for the show?" Jasper replied, chuckling. "We literally applied for this; we knew we would get recorded by them for multiple hours on a daily basis, so…"

Clarke sighed and finally took off her sunglasses. She blinked a few times then moved her head around so that she could look at Echo. The girl was wearing a swimsuit, clearly showing that she really wanted to hang out with them at the pool. However, it didn’t change that none of the four wanted to be around her.

"And that’s another reason why you should be fine with me joining the conversation and being around you, right?" Echo questioned.

"I’m… sorry, I’m not the person who asks someone to leave or… something like that but I really want to spend time with my friends right now and would appreciate it if you could leave us?"

Clarke turned her head back to the front and smiled at Maya who was now sitting on the flamingo instead of lying, cuddled on it with Jasper. Maya was one of the kindest people Clarke had ever met and what she just said confirmed it. No one could have asked Echo to leave them alone any better than she did.

"You can’t just tell me to go back inside when this mansion doesn’t belong to you. I can stay wherever I want and if you want to talk about something top secret, you need to find yourself a place."

"Okay, but we were here before you?" Jasper shook his head. "To be honest, I don’t even care if you’re around us but you shouldn’t try to get involved in our conversation after what you’ve done and what you said about Bellamy in the hospital."

"God, y’all still mad about that? I talked to Bellamy, we good again."

"Are you?" Clarke asked, bringing herself into the conversation. It surprised Echo for a little bit, she could see that by the way she slowly furrowed her eyebrows together. That look didn’t stay on her face for long but changed to pride instead.

"Yeah, we are. I believe you don’t have a problem with that, right?" Echo replied, grinning.

Clarke exhaled and shook her head, a fake smile making its way on her lips. "No, I don’t."

"Good, because like I said to you at the hospital, you’ll see us together more often now."

"Mhm, sure." Clarke replied, knowing exactly that there was no _‘together more often now’,_ not after what Bellamy had told her after their date when they were getting ready for bed together.

She had known that Echo believed that Bellamy was her perfect match, but hearing that from Bellamy himself was hilarious. Clarke wasn’t sure what Echo had planned next, what was the big bomb she wanted to drop because right now it didn’t look like she was done with whatever she was trying, at all.

"Um, yeah, whatever. You can have the pool for yourself, Echo. We’re leaving."

Clarke turned her head back to look at Jasper and Maya who were getting off the flamingo and into the water and swam their way to Costia and her, to the edge of the pool. She still couldn’t believe that her friends stood up for her, in some way, and decided to clear up the garden area instead of letting Echo join into their conversation.

And because Costia was making her way out of the pool already, grabbing her towel, which Clarke could see from the corner of her eye, she did the same.

"Are you guys really being this childish?" Echo questioned, laughing at the same time.

"We didn’t want to stay out here that long anyway and my skin isn’t made for sunbathing." Clarke replied as she took her own towel and wrapped it around herself. "Don’t worry, you can swim now."

Echo parted her lips to say something but Clarke just turned to look at Costia and waited for her to grab all of her things. She didn’t want to listen to anything Echo was about to say and was glad that Maya and Jasper sort of spoke over Echo so that the blonde couldn’t hear what the other girl was saying.

As soon as Jasper, Maya, and Costia, as well as Clarke, grabbed their things, they passed Echo and made their way into the house. The last thing Clarke could hear from Echo was a sentence that was most likely supposed to scare her, but it didn’t. Echo wasn’t a threat to her nor her relationship with Bellamy anymore.

Still, the four words spoken by Echo never left her mind.

_"You’re going to regret this."_

# # # # # # # # # # 

Week 7, Day 46 – Sunday. Los Angeles. 5 pm.

_ Camera Room _ _\- Echo_

_"I should’ve known that Clarke has more secrets than she actually tells."_ Echo said, grinning devilishly.

It was hard to find something that the blonde was hiding, but after analyzing her behavior and looking around everywhere to find something that she could use against her, she _did_ find something that would fit perfectly into her plan. She didn’t care if the viewers would hate her for doing this or not. She believed that there were people who were annoyed by Clarke as much as she was. 

No more hiding behind the cameras and staying in the back. That was what Echo told herself and she would show up with a bang.

_"To get to the point,"_ She brought her right hand from behind her back and held up two pregnancy tests. She blinked a couple of times with a smile on her lips before she tilted her head to the side. _"Now you’re probably asking yourself how I know that these belong to Clarke… let me explain."_

Echo placed the pregnancy tests on the couch next to her then looked back into the camera.

_"We have three different bathrooms here: one on the first floor and two on the second. Reminder that the two upstairs are separated in men’s and women’s bathroom. Anyway, usually no one uses the bathroom downstairs and if it has been used, then only for peeing real quick or doing stuff in it."_

She leaned backwards against the cushion and threw her arm over the armrest of the couch, smiling.

_"I know that Luna and Roan had sex there once in the first or second week. I don’t remember exactly, but that doesn’t matter right now. Basically, every second week on Sunday, we throw away all the plastic bags in the bin and I’m one of the few who uses the toilet downstairs so every time I went there for the past two weeks, I’ve seen these tests in it. At first, I thought they were from Luna, but she told me she only had sex with Roan once and that she always uses a condom so it couldn’t be hers and I believed her."_

Sometimes Echo loved her job. Being a detective helped her figure out who they belonged to.

_"Now, I’m pretty sure they belong to Clarke. This girl had missed the Truth Booth once because she was too sick to attend. She was ill for a whole week, if not even more and guess what."_ Echo grinned even more now, mischievously. _"The pregnancy tests were there from that week until now. No one talked about it, obviously not, and I’m pretty sure Bellamy doesn’t know about it either. But not for too long."_

Echo laughed loudly before she nodded and rose up from her seat, putting the tests into the back pocket of her sweatpants. She took a few steps closer to the camera, leaned down so that the viewers could see her and smiled softly.

_"Enjoy the drama, babes."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as per usual, kudos and comments are appreciated!   
> much love xo


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's time for the matching ceremony.

9 pm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we’re back for our seventh matching ceremony! How are we today?"

Bellamy only had one answer to that question: much better than they used to be.

The seventh week wasn’t the worst they’ve ever had, but it wasn’t successful either. Yes, Clarke and him finally got their shit together and their relationship was now back to usual, but there was still the love drama between Raven, Emori, Zeke, and Murphy which affected the whole group and not just the four people mentioned. On top of that, some pairs, like Miller and Roan, weren’t sure if they were even a perfect match. Since Luna and Jackson were confirmed as not a match, things were a little more complicated.

In conclusion, Bellamy had no idea how many beams they would get this time but there was less drama in the house and he hoped that it would be the reason for their success.

"We’re doing better. There are still things that need to be talked about and stuff needs to happen, but we’re getting there. Each of us wants to find our perfect match and get the money at the end of the tenth week, so that’s what we’re working on now." Monty replied.

Aryana nodded in response and placed her hands on the edge of the monitor, sweeping her eyes over each of the participants. Bellamy wasn’t sure how this ceremony would turn out, he really was clueless, but if they picked the right people, if they would all follow their heart this time, they might be able to get seven beams again.

"That’s good to hear. Let’s just hope that everything goes the way you want. However, for that, you need to pick the right people as your match, work out your issues with everyone in the house, and get to know everyone, not just a selected few. But for now… let’s see how this matching ceremony turns out."

"We had three beams last week…," Finn stated next to Bellamy. He furrowed his eyebrows together, asking himself if Finn was actually talking to him, only to find out that he was indeed trying to have a conversation with him. "How many do you think we’ll get this time?"

Bellamy didn’t answer Finn right away. He followed Miller, who was walking towards Aryana, with his eyes and focused on him for a few seconds before he exhaled and leaned over so he could answer Finn’s question.

"I want to believe that we’ll get more than last week but…"

"Yeah," Finn replied, "There’s still something wrong with the pairs, though. Some people don’t know who their match is and the others prefer choosing their sex partner instead of the person who is actually their perfect match "

Bellamy quirked his left eyebrow at that but didn’t tear his gaze away from Miller, who was now in Roan’s company in front of the host. It was still weird seeing them together and Bellamy slightly began to think that they weren’t a perfect match either.

What a great start to the ceremony.

"Mhm, I know who you’re talking about but don’t you think it’s a little bit hypocritical of you to say so? I mean-" Bellamy stopped himself from saying anything else but turned his face to Finn and smiled softly at him. It wasn’t meant as an attack and the way Finn rolled his eyes with his lip curled upward, he knew that the other guy didn’t take it as one.

"Yeah, but I wasn’t taking anybody away from anyone. That’s that."

Bellamy nodded slowly and sent Finn a light smile before he turned his attention back to what was happening in front of him and the eighteen others. As per usual, his litter sister and Lincoln were already sitting on the other side of the winter garden, in one of the eleven seats, just like Miller and Roan, who finished locking into the system a few seconds, if not a good minute, ago.

Right now, Maya was standing in front of Aryana while Jasper was making his way towards them. They had been picking each other for a while now and even though there were people he was closer to than Jasper and Maya, he had been spending a lot of time with them the first two, three weeks and was glad to see them together. The only thing he had wished for Maya was to be happy after having ended things with her so quickly and it seemed like Jasper was doing exactly that.

The couple locked into the system pretty fast because Aryana didn’t ask any questions and walked over to the right side to sit down on one of the seats.

"Murphy, it’s your turn!"

Bellamy moved his head around and took a look at Murphy, who seemed to be surprised that he was picked so early on. He quickly said something to Monty, who was standing next to him, before he made his way to Aryana. Bellamy followed his movements with his eyes and frowned lightly once again while crossing his arms in front of his chest. Murphy looked pretty relaxed, from what he could tell, which didn’t mean anything good.

He would choose Raven and leave Emori alone again, making her choose someone else that obviously wasn’t her match. Yet if Murphy and Raven believed that they were one, they should choose each other. Bellamy couldn’t change their minds and he wouldn’t try to do so either. He could be wrong himself, but the only way to find out if they were a match was by sending them into the Truth Booth.

"Murphy, do you want to tell us how your week went?" Aryana asked with a soft smile on her lips.

Murphy nodded slowly before he cleared his throat. "My week went surprisingly well except for two, three little things, but they don’t matter that much. I had a good time with Raven and every day I get to know her better and better. We really get along well and I can see that she’s my match, even though some people here don’t believe that and decide to ditch and abandon me instead."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and exhaled before he kept looking at the back of Murphy’s head.

What happened the day before had been unnecessary and still annoyed Bellamy. There hadn’t been any reason for Murphy to be pissed because they trained with Zeke instead of him for one day. Yes, things changed since Murphy ditched Emori, as well as when Raven choose Murphy instead of Zeke, but that never meant that their friendship wasn’t as important as before.

To be honest, all of this was a mess. It happened before when Clarke was trying to find her perfect match and spent more time with Lexa than with _La Familia_ but Bellamy, and everyone else in the group, knew that Clarke hadn’t been the one to blame. So, Murphy and Raven trying to find out who was their match wasn’t the issue… the issue was the way they had decided to go about it.

Bellamy sighed. He really should focus more on his own world and how he would reveal his feelings to Clarke. Yes, he planned on doing so, but he wasn’t sure how he would react if Clarke didn’t feel the same way. He was scared shitless and didn’t intend on ruining whatever they had at this point. However, he knew that there was only one person he considered on choosing for the seventh ceremony and that was Clarke.

Clarke Griffin and no one else.

"Well, that’s something I love to hear. I’m guessing you’re choosing her today, too?"

Murphy laughed lightly then turned sideways and held his hand up to motion Raven to get off the stage and walk over to stand next to Murphy, who wrapped his arm around the small of her back as soon as she stopped next to him.

"So, Raven," Aryana begun, "Would you say you’re in love with Murphy?"

"Oh, that’s a question I’d love to hear the answer to!" Octavia screamed, which didn’t surprise Bellamy at all. She hadn’t been around much, only joining the group once a week, and whenever she did, she spent more time with him than with anyone else. But on the other hand, he believed that Clarke and Emori, maybe even Raven herself, updated his little sister on how things were going and who was currently sleeping with who.

Sounds genuine.

"Why are you guys like this?" Raven asked while laughing. "I wouldn’t say that to you guys and all the viewers in front of the TV before saying it to Murphy in private. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to answer that question."

"Maybe it’s because you don’t actually have feelings for Murphy but for Zeke instead."

Bellamy spun his head to Finn the second he finished that sentence. He didn’t know that Finn was that up to date, considering that he hadn’t been around much and, as far as Bellamy knew, wasn’t really looking for his match either. However, Murphy and Emori had been fighting in front of everyone on Wednesday and Raven and Murphy had been flirting openly, so it only made sense that Finn knew. That didn’t mean that involving himself was something Bellamy expected from him though.

"What do you mean?" Raven said, turning around and showing the host her back so that she could face Finn, even though they were meters away from each other. "Why do you even open your mouth? You cheated on me and made Clarke the side chick and pushed Bellamy against a fucking stake. You shouldn’t get involved in my love life."

"Here we go…," Bellamy mumbled to himself, knowing damn well that this matching ceremony would be filled with a lot of drama.

"And you think what you’re doing right now is any better?" Finn asked back, chuckling. "You literally took Emori’s boyfriend away and dropped Zeke without even blinking twice. How is that any better than what I did?"

"Fair point, Finn." Miller added, whereupon Raven sent him a death glare. Miller didn’t seem to mind and only shook his head before he turned to look at everyone else who was still standing on the stage. Bellamy met his friend’s eyes and smirked slowly, which caused Miller to grin himself before he mouthed something Bellamy couldn’t figure out. He didn’t have the time to ask him what he was trying to say because Aryana interrupted the tension that was starting to build between everyone.

"Anyway… you guys think you are a perfect match and as long as you follow your heart… Lock into the system, please."

It was weird that the host ended the sentence the way she did but Bellamy didn’t want to put too much thought into it, nobody else did.

Maybe that was a mistake.

Raven and Murphy placed their hands on the little monitor in front of them and locked into the system as a match before they walked over to the stage on the right and sat down on the free seat next to Octavia and Lincoln.

The next pair that Aryana called up front was, just as Maya and Jasper, an actual couple already. Girlfriend and girlfriend. Lexa and Costia.

As far as Bellamy could see and notice the last couple of days, Lexa was really making amends for her first couple weeks on the show. Bellamy wouldn’t say that they were friends now, but they could talk to each other normally and be friendly together. It seemed like his accident turned a lot of things around and changed things for the better… or not really if one would consider how _someone_ decided to take advantage of that situation.

But for now, he didn’t want to worry about Echo but rather think about how he could finally choose Clarke as his perfect match again. Yes, they had been sitting next to each other two weeks ago but that one week where he behaved like an asshole and picked Sasha as his match felt like it happened months ago, even though that sounds impossible. He really hoped that Clarke felt the same way, that she would choose him as her match for the ceremony if she would be the first called up by Aryana. However, he had no doubt that she would pick him, at all.

Bellamy watched Lexa and Costia as they walked away from the host and went straight for a seat in the front row. They sat down, Costia on Lexa’s lap, before they began chatting about something in private. He had to smile, seeing them like that, and it was mostly because he could see that they were happy together and that was all he wanted for Clarke and himself.

Yet, there was something, or someone, in between their happiness and they wouldn’t leave any time soon.

"I ask Echo to come up front next."

"Shit." _Shit, indeed._

Bellamy turned his head to the right and leaned a bit forward so that he could look at Clarke after that one word came out of her mouth. He couldn’t believe that the week they finally got their shit back together, he realized his feelings for her, and that they were on their best way to getting back to normal, Echo was the one who gets called to the front before one of them did.

This ceremony could only end in disaster.

"Do you think she’s going to pick you?" Zeke asked him and the only thing Bellamy could do was sigh and nod slowly. "Shit."

"Fucking shit, yeah."

Before Zeke could reply to that, Echo stopped in front of the host who immediately bombarded Echo with a question, not waiting for the brunette to say anything first.

"Alright, Echo. I haven’t been hearing much about you… at all, actually, except from the drama you caused at the hospital."

_Oh, that drama._

Clarke told Bellamy about it after they made up on their balcony dinner. In the moment, he didn’t want to believe that Echo shit-talked him during the first couple of hours of his stay at the hospital around some of the people he was close to. The worst thing about it was that Echo really believed he wouldn’t find out about it any time soon and tried to play the good guy, getting closer to him and pretending like the fight at the hospital never happened.

It shouldn’t hurt him, it really shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but feel used and betrayed by Echo. He was trying to be nice to everyone, give each person in life not only one, but many chances and yet Echo showed him how badly one can be treated by another human.

And for what?

"Yeah, well." Echo replied deviously. "It’s not really like I planned to be in the background of this show as long as I have been, but now I’m trying to get more up front and, you know, find my perfect match."

Bellamy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest. This wouldn’t end well, he fucking knew it. He wasn’t mad yet, he was just annoyed by the brunette’s behavior, but he was very well aware of the fact that it wouldn’t stay like this. If she was really planning on picking him, if she was going to say his name, he would fucking lose it and he wouldn’t be the only one.

"I think everyone is trying to do that here but I’m glad that you’ve finally decided to get more into focus." Aryana replied before getting serious again. "So, we all know that you haven’t really made a connection with anyone yet, or are we missing out on something?"

Echo didn’t say anything back for a few seconds and just kept looking up front before she turned her head around and looked Bellamy straight in the eyes. He knew that this didn’t mean anything good; he would’ve been surprised if it was any different than that. However, he knew that Echo was crazy, even more obsessed than he thought Roan was back in the day, as soon as he saw the grin that made its way on her lips before she faced Aryana again.

Bellamy had no idea what she had planned for the upcoming weeks to come, why she was still on this dating show and why she wanted to give him _and Clarke_ a hard time on this.

"I sort of made a connection with someone and even though that person doesn’t see it yet, the chemistry we have and with how many things we have in common, I wanna pick him tonight." Echo said confidently.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan. Who’s your match for tonight Echo Icke?"

Bellamy slowly placed his left hand on his forehead and begun rubbing it slightly as soon as Aryana finished her sentence.

_Chemistry._

_Many things in common._

He scoffed, impressed by how Echo turned this whole situation around and made such a big thing out of it, how she didn’t listen to him when he said that she should leave Clarke and him alone and realize that he wasn’t interested at her at all. He wasn’t sure if there was any hope in all of this, if there was any hope in her.

Probably not.

"I am going to choose Bellamy as my perfect match for tonight’s matching ceremony."

"Oh my God, you’re really doing this. You’re really going to fucking end us all with your stupid life choices and ignorant personality!?" Miller questioned as he got up from his seat.

And he wasn’t the only one who was pissed at the turn of events.

"That was not the plan, Echo. This has nothing to do with our strategy. You can’t just decide for yourself and change up the whole plan, not without talking to Raven or me before like everyone else does before they want to switch up pairs! We’re a fucking group, we’re supposed to be a team, you can’t just pull a one-man-thing."

Even though Monty was trying to stay sane and not yell at Echo for fucking up their strategy for their seventh matching ceremony, it was obvious that he was annoyed and frustrated. Yet, it was nothing compared to how Emori seemed to feel, nothing compared to what Bellamy was feeling _and_ thinking _and definitely not_ how Clarke seemed to process what just happened.

"I’m sorry but this is a fucking bitch move. You’re a _fucking bitch!_ I can’t believe you just did that and for what!? What exactly is your goal here!? Are you even on this fucking show to win the money!? To find love!? If you even know what the fuck that means since you’re here choosing someone who clearly doesn’t give a damn about you!" 

Yeah, Clarke was clearly pissed and that was for goddamn good reasons. Bellamy wouldn’t try to stop her, he really wouldn’t, because at this point, he was done with Echo’s bullshit, he really was. He just knew that his moment to speak would come as soon as he had to walk off the stage and make his way to Aryana and Echo, so he started forming his sentences in his mind while listening to his friends and participants getting off on Echo for doing her own thing.

Or for laughing at what was currently happening because that was exactly what the brunette was doing.

Laughing.

"Wow, bravo." Emori said as she clapped her hands together. "I’m _so_ glad to be surrounded by monumentally stupid people here. First Murphy ditches me because it got too boring to be with one person for ten fucking weeks, then you come here and try to gain the spotlight by pulling some really disgusting game. Friends, that’s what you wanted all of us to be, but here you are, deciding against everything we’ve planned the last few days, weeks even, only to play your own games, let Clarke lose her mind, and be the reason why we’re going to lose the fucking money. This is your damn fault and I’m not going to forgive you for this, nuh uh."

Bellamy moved his head around to look at Emori who was actually standing in front of Echo now, pointing her finger at the taller one. Clarke was a few meters away from the two of them but Bellamy couldn’t make out her facial expression, even though he could see that she was trying to hold back by the way she was running her hand through her hair repeatedly and how she was clenching and unclenching her balled up fist.

God, this was a mess. Way to ruin the good week they had.

"Girl, I don’t know what you didn’t understand when I said you need to back the fuck off and deal with your own problems at the hospital. Clearly you have better things to focus on. Get the stick out of your head. I didn’t propose to Bellamy, I only picked him as my perfect match."

"And you’d do that again and again and again only to piss me off and make me lose my shit on TV!" Clarke yelled, taking a few steps closer to Echo and Emori, but before anything could happen between the three of them, Lincoln, Roan, and Miller got in between to keep them away from each other.

Bellamy had really planned to stay out of this mess but he wasn’t going to leave Clarke alone to fight the person that got between her and him the past few weeks, so he took his hand off his forehead and got off the stage before he walked over to Clarke.

"Hey…" the blonde turned around immediately, the second his ‘ _hey’_ left his mouth. "Don’t let it get through to you, whatever she’s saying or trying to do…"

Clarke nodded slowly but Bellamy could read her face. Her expression made it clear that she was feeling anything other than understanding and letting go of whatever Echo was trying to achieve. Clarke looked annoyed, offended, sad, and pissed all at once which absolutely made sense and she had all the right to feel this way but not because of this. Bellamy wouldn’t let Echo win and Clarke, and everyone else’s, reaction to Echo picking him was exactly what the brunette wanted.

So, he had to calm Clarke down in any way possible.

"Hey, look at me." He whispered softly while cupping her face in his hands, lifting it up a little bit so she could look him in the eyes. "I know this is hard and you have a right to feel the way you do right now, but this is the reaction Echo was waiting for… don’t give her that. It’s one matching ceremony. Sadly it’s one pretty close to the end, but I promise we’re gonna be sitting together as a match for the next three, okay?"

Clarke didn’t answer Bellamy right away, just swept her eyes over his face for a few seconds, probably searching for any expression on his face that was similar to how she was feeling, before she met his gaze again and looked him in the eyes.

What happened next was enough for Bellamy to know that him talking to her helped her calm down and forget about how stupid this ceremony was.

The blonde got on her tiptoes and smiled softly before she closed her eyes and collided their lips together. Bellamy didn’t spend any time on not returning the kiss, so he kissed her back as soon as he felt her lips on his and closed his eyes as well, even though the kiss was just a brief one, nothing that would be too much for a matching ceremony but a kiss that was enough for the both of them to stay sane.

"Well, clearly this is the couple that should’ve sat together today but Echo decided to fuck it up and destroy our strategy and our win." Octavia said as soon as Bellamy and Clarke pulled away from each other.

"Sometimes things don’t go as planned." Aryana stated which turned everyone’s attention back to her. "Echo wouldn’t have chosen Bellamy if she was getting to know someone else, if she spent time with someone else, and if she had the chance to get closer to someone else, but it shows that you all don’t want to have anything to do with her, which most of y’all hopefully have a reason for. It’s a two-sided thing here, you’re both ruining this game for everyone. Now, Clarke, Emori, get back on the stage and wait until it’s your turn or you get picked by someone else. Bellamy, get up here and lock into the system with Echo."

Although nobody seemed to agree with what the host just said and would rather continuing their discussion about what was going on, everyone did as told. Emori and Clarke went back on stage, standing next to the last people surviving; Zeke, Jackson, Finn, Luna, Sasha, Monty, Wells, and Harper. Meanwhile, Bellamy got himself together and went to stand next to Echo but didn’t turn to look at her nor was he in the mood to make conversation with her. So, that’s why he was grateful for Aryana and how she just told them to place their hands on the monitor to lock into the system.

Bellamy didn’t have any idea how he would survive the rest of the matching ceremony, with him sitting next to Echo on a seat and probably having to hear her speak into his ear until he would snap and tell her to shut the fuck up.

Or maybe that wasn’t exactly how things would go because he was still a nice person and wouldn’t be disrespectful even after everything she had done.

But what was more important than that, and her, definitely, was how the last free people matched up, which, in fact, was the most chaotic pair up Bellamy had ever seen.

Jackson picked Sasha so they could lock into the system together which was very awkward to look at from his seat because it wasn’t hard to notice how uncomfortable Sasha felt. Maybe it was because she hadn’t had much, if not any at all, conversations with Jackson or because she believed he still had feelings for Miller. Whatever the reason was for her uncomfortableness showed that they could never be a match.

After that, Monty and Harper went up front and placed their hands on the monitor to get into the system as a match. It was possible that they were a match, Bellamy thought, so he was glad that Harper had chosen Monty and not anyone else. Bellamy wouldn’t know who else they would’ve chosen anyway, the both of them, so he was a little relieved that there was one other pair that would get them a beam.

Surprisingly, when it was Clarke’s turn, she didn’t get any questions from Aryana about how things were going with him, especially after they just kissed in front of her, or how she was handling Echo picking him as her perfect match. It went pretty fast, actually. The host just asked her who she would like to choose as her match for the seventh matching ceremony and Clarke decided to pick Zeke. It kind of made Bellamy smile because they had that conversation, the night before his accident, about who Clarke would consider as her perfect match and one of those people was Zeke, even though she figured out pretty fast that he wasn’t the one either.

God, Bellamy had been so stupid back then, thinking that he didn’t have feelings for Clarke and that they were just having sex while being best friends. But now he could tell that it was more than that… for him. He wasn’t sure about how Clarke was feeling and with every day that went by, he was more and more convinced that she felt the same as him… only to get hit by reality again that told him that they were just having sex while staying best friends.

That and nothing else.

The next pair matched together was Wells and Emori. There was no way that they were an actual match and everyone in the group knew that. It wasn’t like Bellamy could only see Emori being with Murphy, her perfect match could be a woman too, but knowing that they had chosen each other since week one and since their split up, the group continued to lose beams, so he could only assume that Emori and Murphy were a match.

There wasn’t much to say about sitting next to each other on a chair. If Murphy and Raven were in love, they should keep their relationship, no questions asked, but for the sake of the group and the money, they should pick the right people, at least at the matching ceremony.

Then there was Wells and suddenly Bellamy understood why Sasha had been so uncomfortable about Jackson picking her. Wells and Sasha had already been on multiple dates together and had probably started to build a connection which would be enough of a reason to pick each other as their match. But now that Jackson chose Sasha, Wells wasn’t able to.

The last pair that locked into the system was Luna and Finn. They didn’t have a choice and didn’t have much to say about it either. They only did because there wasn’t any other option. While Luna had a neutral expression on her face, Finn was smiling lightly and for a second, Bellamy thought that he was planning something devilishly in his mind, but Finn had changed. He wasn’t that much of an asshole anymore and was even trying his best to get closer to everyone. Clearly, Lexa and him were more mature than Echo.

Yet, after every pair was seated, Bellamy knew that this ceremony would end up in a big, fucking mess. The pairs were completely fucked up, not many made sense, and it was almost impossible to miss the annoyance on Aryana’s face. This couldn’t mean anything good and it for sure didn’t.

"Now that every pair has found a seat, it’s time to see how many beams you got. Are we going to get up to seven beams again, which is your record by the way… or are we going to stay with the same three beams you had last week? Or will you get even less? Let’s find out."

Bellamy exhaled heavily as he leaned against the back of the seat and folded his arms in front of his chest again. If he could, he would’ve chosen to sit with his legs spread open but Echo was almost sitting on his lap, her leg against his already, so there was no way that he would spread them any farther apart.

Fucking Echo.

The lights were off already with Aryana’s back turned towards them, one beam already lit that stood for Octavia and Lincoln. They were a happy couple and as long as that continued, Bellamy wouldn’t complain nor try to get his sister out of the relationship.

However, getting the first beam of the night took longer than expected, which scared him because it would end up with them losing half of the money that they were promised to get at the end of the tenth week by succeeding to figure out all of the matches. Apart from that, it gave Echo the opportunity to talk to, disturb, and annoy him.

"You know… I don’t really care about what Clarke thinks, or what you think. I’m here to find my perfect match and maybe we are one. You can’t just throw that possibility away and blindly think that Clarke is yours because of the standard sex you have." Bellamy only snorted at that and kept his eyes fixed on the beams in front of him.

Luckily, Echo couldn’t say more than she already did because the first beam of the night and second, counting Lincoln and Octavia’s, lit up. Everyone started clapping their hands together but no one was enthusiastic about it. They had only two beams so far, a confirmed perfect match, and another pair that was sitting next to each other. It wasn’t good, it was horrible, actually, especially if they didn’t get any more for the night.

"See, another beam. I am certain that this one stands for us." Echo whispered certainly, whereupon Bellamy just shook his head. They sat together for the first time ever while there were couples that had already been picking each other for ceremonies now, like Lexa and Costia, or Maya and Jasper. One beam definitely stood for one of those couples and a hundred percent not for Echo and him.

Bellamy still didn’t plan on responding to anything that Echo was talking about. She kept rambling about them being a match and tried to get his attention but the only time he gave it to her was the moment she placed her hand on his thigh. He instantly slapped it away.

He couldn’t believe that he trusted her, that he had planned on helping her through this reality show, when all that she wanted was to be with him and get rid of Clarke.

Speaking of her…

"Okay, fine. You’re trying to ignore me but there are some things that you can’t ignore, you know."

Bellamy had no idea why she stopped talking after that first sentence but three seconds later, she couldn’t continue anyway because another beam lit up, giving them three beams for this ceremony. Again, no one was screaming, just clapping their hands together instinctively with the occasional whistle. But that was it. No other comments were made by members of the group, but therefore Echo used the opportunity to speak up.

"Look, maybe she even told you this already but did you know that Clarke is pregnant? From your child, obviously. You’re the only dude she fucked with."

Bellamy didn’t react immediately. He just stared at the beams in front of him, furrowed his brows together for a second, only to relax his forehead again and go back to frowning. He wasn’t sure if Echo was joking right now, if she just wanted to create more drama and if she was lying or actually telling the truth. As far as Bellamy could remember, Clarke had been sick during the fourth week, they had sex without a condom more than once, and when they did it outside on the terrace, she told him to pull out before she changed her mind.

Jesus.

Fuck.

Clarke was really pregnant and she didn’t tell him about it. She knew for weeks now and instead of talking to him about it, she decided to hide it from him. And who knows about her pregnancy? Echo.

No.

That alone should tell Bellamy that the brunette was lying. She would use anything and everything to get what she wanted and this was just another game of hers. She was trying to manipulate him and for a slight second, it even worked. There were a bunch of other reasons for Clarke’s sickness and before he would believe a thing coming from Echo’s mouth, he would talk to Clarke.

So, he kept silent which caused Echo to let out an annoyed groan. He knew that she was trying to get his attention by dropping this bomb, whether or not it was true, but it didn’t work because he had to talk to Clarke first and as soon as the lights went on again, he knew that it would happen very soon.

"Three beams…," Aryana stated as she turned around and faced the whole group again. "Three beams after seven weeks of being together in one big mansion… I don’t know how you guys do it but you clearly suck at this game and don’t try to get better. I really have no idea how to get through to you. I really don’t."

Bellamy sat up correctly and ran his hand through his hair before he folded his arms in front of his chest again. The host wasn’t mad this time, not at all, she was frustrated and to be honest, that was even worse than her yelling at them and telling them to get the sticks out of their asses.

How did a week end so badly?

"Get it together, people… you only have three matching ceremonies left. One confirmed perfect match, the rest seem to be written in the stars. Have some kind of conference, talk to each other about what is going on in your house because if that doesn’t happen, you’ll leave Los Angeles without money and love. See you on Wednesday."

Aryana was right. No way in hell would they succeed and leave Los Angeles as winners if they wouldn’t talk to each other. They had a strategy, yes, but the strategy wasn’t working without everyone expressing their true feelings to each other.

It had to be love and strategy, not just one or the other.

Therefore, they had to talk.

And that was exactly what Bellamy planned on doing first: talking to Clarke about her “pregnancy” and making sure that there were no secrets between them. And after that, it was time to sit together as a group again and go through every previous matching ceremony, challenge, and Truth Booth.

Because, apparently, talking was the key to success.

# # # # # # # # # #

11 pm.

Clarke didn’t know what it was, but the second they got back to the mansion, she noticed how much Bellamy was drifting off, thinking about something and not speaking at all. She tried to ask him if he was fine, if he wanted her to get some water, but didn’t get an answer to anything apart from him saying that he would join her for her shower.

At first, Clarke thought he meant taking a shower together but instead, he just wanted to stay in the bathroom and think, which was making her sad on the one hand because she really wanted to take a shower with him but on the other, it was probably better because she planned on going to bed soon.

So, that’s how Clarke found herself under the shower, taking off her makeup that was absolutely shit, by the way, and the gel out of her hair that kept her slicked back ponytail in place. All of this styling for nothing but three shitty beams and a murder she almost intended on committing.

While she was getting clean, Bellamy was standing across from her, his ass leaned against the counter and hands placed on it right beside his thighs. He wasn’t looking at her too often but that was mostly because he was in his own thoughts. Clarke really wanted to know what was going on, why he was so far gone, but it’s Bellamy and he wasn’t the person to speak about things if he didn’t want to.

So instead of saying anything first, she started humming a melody that she somehow created herself, probably in boredom.

It took a while for her to get all the gel out of her hair and get rid of the make up on her face, but eventually she did and could finally move on to taking care of the rest of her body. She should’ve taken a bath, that would’ve been much more relaxing than standing under the shower but she wasn’t in the mood for one either. The only thing that came to her mind under the shower was sleep, and maybe eating some snacks before, but nothing else.

Which is why she was extremely confused the second Bellamy cleared his and began talking about something that she didn’t quite understand.

"So… when did you plan on telling me about your pregnancy?" He asked softly but it didn’t really help Clarke. She was confused, not understanding what he was talking about but she stopped lathering her legs with soap and turned her head to look at him.

"I’m… sorry? You have to help me here a little bit ‘cause I have… no idea what you’re talking about…"

"Yeah… me neither."

Clarke frowned but figured it wasn’t the best way to talk to Bellamy about her “pregnancy”, so she took the shower head and washed off her body. She didn’t know where exactly this was coming from, especially because nothing had been leading up to this question in the past few days. She hadn’t had any mood swings, didn’t throw up or feel sick in any way. She was in her best possible mood at the moment, but...

…she wasn’t a few weeks ago. She had been sick, emotionally distressed, and troubled with stomach pain at the beginning of the show. She took two pregnancy tests. They kept the same trash bag for two, maybe three weeks which meant that someone probably found them and went to Bellamy to tell him about it. But she wasn’t pregnant. The tests were negative, her period came back, and all other symptoms were gone, too. She really believed that Emori had been right, that all the drama that happened wasn’t good for her mental health and affected her physically. Now, Bellamy was under the impression it was because she had a baby in her abdomen because someone wanted to use this situation for themselves.

Someone… with the name of Echo.

Goddammit.

"Uhm… I might know what you’re talking about…," Clarke mumbled as she turned off the water and put the shower head back to where it hung before. "And before we get to talk about that, I want to say that I’m not pregnant. I really am not."

Before she let Bellamy respond to what she said, she got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body, tucking it in, and sliding into her slippers. She kept looking at Bellamy while doing so and noticed how he was still in thoughts but definitely more relaxed now.

The blonde walked over to him, whereupon he fixed his gaze on her face, holding eye contact with her, as she stopped right in front of him and lifted her chin up so that she could look him in the eyes.

"I promise you, I’m not pregnant." she said quietly.

Bellamy nodded slowly then sighed and ran his hand over his face before placing it on the counter again.

"Sorry, I just… Echo-"

"I guessed that this had something to do with Echo…," Clarke cut him off. Bellamy laughed lightly, just a little bit, before the expression on his face turned to an apologetic one. "Don’t… it’s okay, seriously. I, um… I actually thought I was some weeks ago, when I was sick and stuff. I didn’t get my period and I was horrified, thinking that I’d be pregnant with your child at the age of 18 when I don’t even… see myself having kids, at the moment. And we were just having sex back then, you know? So… I didn’t tell you about it, about my pregnancy scare and about me taking the tests but… I guess I should’ve?"

Clarke could see how Bellamy was trying to gather in all the information she just gave him by the way he swept his eyes over her face a bunch of times before holding eye contact again.

She knew back in the week of horror that she should’ve told him about it, he had a right to know after all, but it was for the best in her opinion to not let him get excited of the thought of becoming a father. Not that it was something bad, of course, she just wasn’t even sure if she was pregnant and telling him about it before doing a test didn’t sound wise to her. And after finding out that she wasn’t, she didn’t see a reason why she should tell him.

It was actually fucked up and now Echo tried to use it against her and let Bellamy get mad but he seemed to be anything but mad at her. He cupped her face in his hands and caressed her right cheek with his thumb while looking her into the eyes before he leaned down and placed a brief kiss on her lips. She returned it but it was over too soon for her to even close her eyes. But it didn’t matter because Bellamy wasn’t mad at her and wouldn’t be.

"You’re right, you should’ve told me about that sooner. I hate myself for the fact that I couldn’t be there for you when you went through it all by yourself even though I believe Raven or Emori, if not Harper, were there for you. It’s not the same, you know? I just…," he sighed, "I just wish I could’ve been there for you "

Clarke nodded slowly, then she reached up on her tip toes and placed a quick peck on his lips before she got back onto her feet. Of course, this was what really hurt Bellamy, that he couldn’t do anything in the situation because she hadn’t told him and she should’ve thought about that. Bellamy always tried to help, whoever it was and whenever, so for her, the person he was closest to, to not tell him about something that would’ve affected them both, hurt him in some way or another. She understood that.

"I know… and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about it. I promise from now on, there won’t be any secrets and I’ll tell you about everything… even the stuff that bothers me." She said while laughing, whereas a smile made its way on Bellamy’s lips.

"Alright… I’ll try to do the same, although talking about… feelings and shit isn’t my thing."

"Okay, but we both agree on the fact that Echo is crazy and taking it to a whole new level, we need to help our friends Raven, Murphy, Emori, and Zeke and that this matching ceremony was even worse than the last one?"

Bellamy laughed and took his hands away from Clarke’s cheeks only so he could pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around Bellamy herself and turned her head to the side so she could lean it against his chest.

"I definitely agree on that, yeah. Any ideas on how we’re gonna do that?"

"Talking," Clarke said quietly, "That’s the only way to turn things around so we can win this game."

"Talking…" Bellamy repeated as he placed his hand on her head and leaned down to kiss the crown of it. "Then that’s what we’re gonna do."

…Then talking was the key to success and the best way to find everyone’s perfect match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as per usual, kudos and comments are appreciated!  
> much love xx


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